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{{Short description|American baseball player (1910–1982)}}
{{about|the baseball right fielder|his father, a baseball pitcher|Dixie Walker (pitcher)|the American ambassador and scholar also known as Dixie Walker|Richard L. Walker}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Dixie Walker
|image=Dixie Walker 1949 (cropped).jpg
|caption=Walker in 1949
|position=[[Outfielder]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1910|9|24}}
|birth_place=[[Villa Rica, Georgia]], U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1982|5|17|1910|9|24}}
|death_place=[[Birmingham, Alabama]], U.S.
|bats=Left
|throws=Right
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=April 28
|debutyear=1931
|debutteam=New York Yankees
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=September 22
|finalyear=1949
|finalteam=Pittsburgh Pirates
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.306
|stat2label=[[Hits (baseball)|Hits]]
|stat2value=2,064
|stat3label=[[Home run]]s
|stat3value=105
|stat4label=[[Runs batted in]]
|stat4value=1,023
|teams=
* [[New York Yankees]] ({{mlby|1931}}, {{mlby|1933}}–{{mlby|1936}})
* [[Chicago White Sox]] ({{mlby|1936}}–{{mlby|1937}})
* [[Detroit Tigers]] ({{mlby|1938}}–{{mlby|1939}})
* [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] ({{mlby|1939}}–{{mlby|1947}})
* [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] ({{mlby|1948}}–{{mlby|1949}})
|highlights=
* 5× [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] ([[1943 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1943]]–[[1947 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1947]])
* [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions|NL batting champion]] (1944) 
* [[List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders|NL RBI leader]] (1945)
}}
'''Fred E.''' "'''Dixie'''" '''Walker''' (September 24, 1910 – May 17, 1982) was an American professional [[baseball]] player, [[coach (baseball)|coach]], [[scout (sport)|scout]] and [[minor league]] [[Manager (baseball)|manager]]. He played as a [[right fielder]] in [[Major League Baseball]] from 1931 to 1949. Although Walker was a five-time [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] selection, and won a [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions|National League batting championship]] ({{mlby|1944}}) as well as an [[runs batted in|RBI championship]] ({{mlby|1945}}) as a member of the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]], his accomplishments as a player were overshadowed by his attempt to keep [[Jackie Robinson]] from joining the Dodgers in {{mlby|1947}}.<ref name='Bob Veale at SABR'>{{sabrbio|74909ba3|Lyle Spatz|February 11, 2020}}</ref> He also played for the [[New York Yankees]], [[Chicago White Sox]], [[Detroit Tigers]] and [[Pittsburgh Pirates]].<ref name="BR">{{cite web |title=Dixie Walker Statistics and History |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walkedi02.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com |publisher=Sports Reference LLC |access-date=April 12, 2016}}</ref>

In 11 years in the National League, Walker posted a .310 [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] (in nine seasons in the American League, an average of .295),<ref name="BR"/> with 105 total [[home run]]s and 1,023 [[run batted in|RBIs]] in 1,905 [[games played|games]].<ref name="BR"/> Walker's popularity with the [[Ebbets Field]] fans in the 1940s brought him the nickname "'''the People's Cherce'''" (so-called, and spelled, because "Choice" in the "[[Brooklynese]]" of the mid-20th century frequently was pronounced that way).<ref name=sheknew/>

==Early life==
Born on September 24, 1910, in [[Villa Rica, Georgia]],<ref name=BR/> Walker was the scion of a baseball family.<ref name=Ewart/><ref name=Ernie/><ref name=Harry/> His father, [[Dixie Walker (pitcher)|Ewart]] (the original "Dixie Walker"), was a [[pitcher]] for the [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] (1909–12); an uncle, [[Ernie Walker (baseball)|Ernie Walker]], was an [[outfielder]] for the [[St. Louis Browns]] (1913–15);<ref name=Ernie/> and his younger brother, [[Harry Walker|Harry "the Hat" Walker]], also an outfielder, played for four [[National League (baseball)|National League]] teams between 1940 and 1955 and managed the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] (1955), [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] (1965–67) and [[Houston Astros]] (1968–72).<ref name=Ewart/><ref name=Harry/> All four Walkers batted left-handed and threw right-handed.<ref name=BR/><ref name="Ewart">{{cite web
|title= Dixie Walker Statistics and History |date=2016 |orig-year=2000 |url= https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walkedi01.shtml |access-date= 2016-04-12 |quote= (quote) Brother of [[Ernie Walker (baseball)|Ernie Walker]], Father of Dixie Walker and Father of [[Harry Walker]]}}
</ref><ref name="Ernie">{{cite web
|title= Ernie Walker Statistics and History |date=2016 |orig-year=2000 |url= https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walkeer01.shtml |access-date= 2016-04-12 |quote= (quote) Bats: Left, Throws: Right" and "Team: Browns 1913-1915}}
</ref><ref name="Harry">{{cite web
|title= Harry Walker Statistics and History |date=2016 |orig-year=2000 |url= https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walkeha01.shtml |access-date= 2016-04-12 |quote= (quote) Bats: Left, Throws: Right" and "Teams (by GP): Cardinals/Phillies/Reds/Cubs 1940-1955}}
</ref>

==Playing career==
Walker originally entered the major leagues with the [[New York Yankees]], and was considered the heir to [[Babe Ruth]] as the team's [[left fielder]] after playing with the Yankees in 1931, and again from 1933 to 1936.

After stints with the [[Chicago White Sox]] and [[Detroit Tigers]], Walker blossomed into a star with the [[Los Angeles Dodgers|Brooklyn Dodgers]], with whom he played from 1939 to 1947.  He was a five time [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All Star]], being selected in every year from 1943 to 1947. Additionally, he was the National League's batting champion in 1944, with his average of .357 besting runner up [[Stan Musial]]'s .347. Additionally, Walker was the 1945 National League runs batted in champion, with his total of 124 topping Boston Braves outfielder Tommy Holmes, with 117. After the {{mlby|1946}} season, Walker became the first National League "player representative" recognized by major league owners. The post was created to stave off the formation of a [[MLBPA|players' union]] in the wake of the short-lived [[American Baseball Guild]] movement earlier that year. [[Johnny Murphy]], the Yankees' stalwart relief pitcher, became the American League's first player representative.

After the 1947 season, Walker was traded to the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]], for whom he played two seasons before retiring in 1949.

==Career statistics==
In 1905 games covering 18 seasons, Walker compiled a .306 [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] ([[hit (baseball)|2,064]]-for-[[at bat|6,740]]) with 1,038 [[run (baseball)|runs]], 376 [[double (baseball)|doubles]], 96 [[triple (baseball)|triples]], 105 [[home runs]], 1,023 [[Run batted in|RBI]], 817 [[base on balls]], a .383 [[on-base percentage]] and a .437 [[slugging percentage]]. Defensively, he recorded a .972 [[fielding percentage]]. In the 1941 and 1947 World Series, playing for the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]], he hit .222 (10-for-45) with one home run and four RBI.<ref name="BR" />

==Managing and coaching career==
The Pirates released Walker after the 1949 season, and he began a managing and coaching career as manager of the minor league [[Atlanta Crackers]].  In his first year as manager, they won the [[Southern Association]] pennant. He then led them to finishes of sixth and second.

Walker coached with the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] in 1953, but left partway through the season to manage the Cardinals' Houston team in the [[Texas League]].  He managed Houston through 1954, after which he managed in the [[International League]], first with the [[Rochester Red Wings]] (1955–1956), where he won back-to-back [[Governors' Cup]] championships, and then with the [[Toronto Maple Leafs (International League)|Toronto Maple Leafs]] (1957–1959).

The [[Atlanta Braves|Milwaukee Braves]] made Walker a scout in 1960, and he worked in this position until 1963, when he joined the team's coaching staff for three years.  When the Braves relocated to Atlanta in 1966, Walker was their chief scout for the Southeastern United States.

In 1968, Walker rejoined the Dodgers as hitting coach, and he held this position until 1974.  From 1974 to 1976 he was a coach for the Dodgers' minor league system.

==Baseball integration==
Walker vocally opposed the [[Baseball color line|participation of black baseball players]] regardless of their skill but did not act on this opposition, even losing to a team of black players (Cuban All Stars) in the [[American Series#1941 MLB Series|1941 MLB Series]] with no complaints. He suggested he would not play for the Dodgers if a black baseball player were permitted on the team.<ref name=sheknew>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/sports/baseball/11walker.html |title=The Dixie Walker She Knew |first=Harvey |last=Araton |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 10, 2010}}</ref> He reportedly initiated a player petition within the Dodgers in 1947, opposing Jackie Robinson joining the team,<ref name=sheknew/> and he wrote a letter to Dodgers owner [[Branch Rickey]] asking to be traded.<ref name=remembers>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/10/sports/sports-of-the-times-dixie-walker-remembers.html |title=Dixie Walker Remembers |first=Ira |last=Berkow |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 10, 1981}}</ref>

From the [[MLB Network]] special ''Jackie Robinson:'' ”A very popular player, a charming fellow, [Dixie Walker] prepared a petition [for Dodgers [[manager (baseball)|manager]] [[Leo Durocher]]] saying, ‘If you promote a black man [Robinson], we will not play.’ [[Branch Rickey]] [the Dodgers' [[president (corporate title)|president]] and [[general manager (baseball)|general manager]]] contacted Durocher and said, ‘Stomp this fire out right now because we can’t let it spread.’" Durocher called a meeting of the players and said, "I don't care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fuckin' zebra...I'm the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What's more, I say he can make us all rich."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rampersad |first1=Arnold |title=Jackie Robinson : a biography |date=1998 |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-345-42655-0 |page=164 |edition=1st Ballantine books}}</ref> Dixie Walker left a note for Branch Rickey, asking to be traded. [[Leeds, Alabama]], is where Dixie Walker had his hardware store. He had to go home and answer to his customers, to his friends [who asked], ‘Do you mean you shower with this guy? Do you eat with this guy? We don’t do that.’ Branch Rickey explored trading Walker, but he couldn't afford to lose his star outfielder, and he continued to rely on Leo Durocher to keep the team in line.”

In a 1981 interview, Walker said that his trade request was not due to Robinson, but because Walker had become a scapegoat for opposition within the team.<ref name=remembers/> In his 2002 book, ''The Era, 1947–1957'', author [[Roger Kahn]] wrote that Walker admitted to starting the Dodgers' player petition in 1947, in which the signatories opposed the integration of baseball.<ref name=sheknew/> In an interview with Kahn, Walker stated, "I organized that petition in 1947, not because I had anything against Robinson personally or against Negroes generally. I had a wholesale business in Birmingham and people told me I’d lose my business if I played ball with a black man."<ref name=sheknew/> According to Kahn, Walker referred to the petition as "the stupidest thing he’d ever done" and asked Kahn that, if he had the opportunity, he would write that Walker was sorry and apologized for his actions.<ref name=sheknew/>

In his 2014 book, ''Rickey & Robinson: The True, Untold Story of the Integration of Baseball,'' Kahn also wrote that, in May 1947, Walker — the NL's player representative — proposed the idea of a league-wide players' strike in an attempt to end Robinson's MLB career. Although the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] reportedly were in favor of the idea, the quick intervention of their owner, [[Sam Breadon]], and National League president [[Ford Frick]], immediately reported by [[Stanley Woodward (editor)|Stanley Woodward]] in the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]],'' destroyed the strike movement.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Kahn| first=Roger| title=Rickey & Robinson: The True, Untold Story of the Integration of Baseball| location=New York| publisher=[[Rodale, Inc.|Rodale]]| year=2014| isbn=978-1-62336-297-3| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/rickeyrobinsontr0000kahn}} Pages 253–264</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1936 Walker married Estelle Shea.  They were the parents of daughters Mary Ann and Susan, and sons Stephen, Fred Jr., and Sean.

Walker died of colon cancer in Birmingham on May 17, 1982, and was buried at [[Elmwood Cemetery (Birmingham, Alabama)|Elmwood Cemetery]] in Birmingham.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Baseball}}
* [[List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle]]
* [[List of St. Louis Cardinals coaches]]
* [[List of second-generation Major League Baseball players]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |title=Dixie Walker of the Dodgers: The People's Choice |first1=Maury |last1=Allen |first2=Susan |last2=Walker |publisher=Fire Ant Books |date=2010 |isbn=978-0817355999}}
*{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/openingdaystoryo00eigj_0 |title=Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season |first=Jonathan |last=Eig |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |date=2007 |isbn=978-0743294607 |url-access=registration }}
*{{cite book |title=Dixie Walker: A Life in Baseball |first=Lyle |last=Spatz |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |date=2011 |isbn=978-0786446339}}
*{{cite web |url=http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/74909ba3 |title=Dixie Walker |first=Lyle |last=Spatz |website=[[Society for American Baseball Research|SABR]]}}

==External links==
{{Baseballstats|br=w/walkedi02|brm=walker001fre}}, or [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/W/Pwalkd101.htm Retrosheet]
*{{find a Grave}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-ach|ach}}
{{Succession box| before = [[Bob Johnson (outfielder)|Bob Johnson]] | title = [[Hitting for the cycle]]| years = September 2, 1944 | after = [[Bob Elliott (baseball)|Bob Elliott]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{NL batting title}}
{{NL RBI champions}}
{{1947–55 International League Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Dixie}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Albany Nuts players]]
[[Category:Atlanta Braves scouts]]
[[Category:Atlanta Crackers managers]]
[[Category:Atlanta Crackers players]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Brooklyn Dodgers players]]
[[Category:Burials at Elmwood Cemetery (Birmingham, Alabama)]]
[[Category:Chicago White Sox players]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Alabama]]
[[Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in the United States]]
[[Category:Detroit Tigers players]]
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[[Category:National League All-Stars]]
[[Category:National League batting champions]]
[[Category:National League RBI champions]]
[[Category:Newark Bears (International League) players]]
[[Category:New York Yankees players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Villa Rica, Georgia]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Carroll County, Georgia]]
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