View source for Harry Walker

{{Short description|American baseball player and manager (1918–1999)}}
{{redirect|Harry the Hat|the ''Cheers'' character|Harry the Hat (Cheers)}}
{{other people|Harry Walker}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Harry Walker
|image=Harry Walker (manager) - Pittsburgh Pirates - 1966.jpg
|caption=Walker in 1966
|position=[[Center fielder]] / [[Manager (baseball)|Manager]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1918|10|22}}
|birth_place=[[Pascagoula, Mississippi]], U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1999|08|08|1918|10|22}}
|death_place=[[Birmingham, Alabama]], U.S.
|bats=Left
|throws=Right
|debutleague=MLB
|debutdate=September 25
|debutyear=1940
|debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals
|finalleague=MLB
|finaldate=August 19
|finalyear=1955
|finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals
|statleague=MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.296
|stat2label=[[Home run]]s
|stat2value=10
|stat3label=[[Run batted in|Runs batted in]]
|stat3value=214
|stat4label=Managerial record
|stat4value=630–604
|stat5label=Winning %
|stat5value={{Winning percentage|630|604}}
|teams=
'''As player'''<br>
* [[St. Louis Cardinals]] ({{mlby|1940}}–{{mlby|1943}}, {{mlby|1946}}–{{mlby|1947}})
* [[Philadelphia Phillies]] ({{mlby|1947}}–{{mlby|1948}})
* [[Chicago Cubs]] ({{mlby|1949}})
* [[Cincinnati Reds]] ({{mlby|1949}})
* [[St. Louis Cardinals]] ({{mlby|1950}}–{{mlby|1951}}, {{mlby|1955}})
'''As manager'''<br>
* [[St. Louis Cardinals]] ({{mlby|1955}})
* [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] ({{mlby|1965}}–{{mlby|1967}})
* [[Houston Astros]] ({{mlby|1968}}–{{mlby|1972}})
|highlights=
* 2× [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] ([[1943 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1943]], [[1947 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1947]])
* 2× [[World Series champion]] ({{wsy|1942}}, {{wsy|1946}})
* [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions|NL batting champion]] (1947)
}}
'''Harry William Walker''' (October 22, 1918 &ndash; August 8, 1999) was an American professional [[baseball]] player, [[coach (baseball)|coach]] and [[Manager (baseball)|manager]]. Known by the nickname "Harry the Hat", he played as a [[center fielder]] in [[Major League Baseball]] between 1940 and 1955, most notably as a member of the [[St. Louis Cardinals]] with whom he won two world championships and was the 1947 [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions|National League batting champion]].

A two-time All-Star player, Walker also played for the [[Philadelphia Phillies]], [[Chicago Cubs]] and the [[Cincinnati Reds]]. After his playing career, he served as manager for three major league teams between 1955 and 1972.

Walker served in the [[65th Infantry Division (United States)|65th Infantry Division]] in 1944 and 1945, earning a [[Bronze Star]] for valor and the [[Purple Heart]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/walker_harry.htm |title=Harry Walker |website=Baseball in Wartime |date=2010 |access-date=December 17, 2020}}</ref>

==Early life and family==
Born in [[Pascagoula, Mississippi]], Walker was a member of a baseball family. He was the son of former [[Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]] [[pitcher]] [[Dixie Walker (pitcher)|Ewart "Dixie" Walker]] and the brother of [[Dixie Walker|Fred "Dixie" Walker]], also an [[outfielder]] and [[National League (baseball)|National League]] [[batting average (baseball)|batting champion]]. He was also the nephew of fellow major league outfielder [[Ernie Walker (baseball)|Ernie Walker]].<ref name=NYT/> Walker batted left-handed and threw right-handed; he stood {{convert|6|ft|2|in}} tall and weighed {{convert|175|lb}}.<ref name=retro>{{cite web |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/W/Pwalkh102.htm |title=Harry Walker |website=[[Retrosheet]] |access-date=December 17, 2020}}</ref>

==World Series star, NL batting champ==
[[File:Harry Walker.jpg|thumb|left|160px|A [[baseball card]] of Walker from 1950.]]
"Harry the Hat" got his nickname from his habit during at-bats of continually adjusting his cap between pitches<ref name=NYT/>—there were no batting helmets in his day. His batting title came in 1947, when he [[batting average (baseball)|hit]] .363 in a season during which he was traded from his original team, the [[St. Louis Cardinals]], to the [[Philadelphia Phillies]].<ref name=retro/><ref name=NYT/> The previous year he played for the Cardinals’ [[1946 World Series]] championship team.  In the decisive seventh game against the [[Boston Red Sox]], with [[Enos Slaughter]] on first base, Walker doubled to left center and Slaughter, running on the pitch and taking advantage of a slow relay from the Red Sox' [[Johnny Pesky]], scored from first base in a "[[Slaughter's Mad Dash|mad dash]]" with the winning run.<ref name=NYT/>  He knocked in six runs during that Series, and batted .412.<ref name=retro/>

Walker lacked his brother Dixie's power—he hit only 10 [[home run]]s in 807 [[games played]] over all or parts of 11&nbsp;seasons in the National League—but he compiled a .296 lifetime batting average and 786 [[hit (baseball)|hits]] with the Cardinals, Phillies, [[Chicago Cubs]] and [[Cincinnati Reds]].<ref name=retro/> Harry and Dixie Walker are the only brothers in MLB history to win batting titles, Dixie having captured the National League batting title with a .357 average in {{mlby|1944}} while playing for the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://research.sabr.org/journals/baseball-brothers |title=Baseball Brothers |first1=Larry |last1=Amman |first2=L. Robert |last2=Davids |website=[[Society for American Baseball Research|SABR]] |access-date=December 17, 2020}}</ref><ref name=NYT/>

After prepping as a skipper in the Cardinals’ minor league system beginning in 1951, Walker was called up from [[Rochester Red Wings|Rochester]] in the [[Triple-A (baseball)|Triple-A]] [[International League]] on May 28, 1955, to replace [[Eddie Stanky]] as Cardinals’ manager.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19550528&id=xzEsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W8sEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6119,4124301 Cards fire Stanky; hire Harry Walker]</ref> Walker, then 36, was still a playing manager; he hit .357 (5-for-14) in 11 games—10 of which were as a [[pinch hitter]]—during July and August.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=walkeha01&t=b&year=1955 |title=Harry Walker 1955 Batting Game Logs |website=[[Baseball-Reference.com]] |access-date=December 17, 2020}}</ref> However, the change backfired: the Cardinals fell two places in the standings under Walker, losing 67 of 118 games for a .432 [[winning percentage]].<ref name=retro/> Walker was replaced by [[Fred Hutchinson]] at the end of the 1955 season, and it would be another decade before he would again manage in the majors.

==Manager in Pittsburgh and Houston==
During that exile, he returned to the Cardinal farm system to manage (1956–58; 1963–64), and served four years (1959–62) as a St. Louis coach. After piloting the [[Jacksonville Suns]] to the 1964 International League pennant, Walker was hired<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19641014&id=WOorAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZWcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4053,1635492 Harry Walker named Manager at Pittsburgh]</ref> by the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] as manager, replacing [[Danny Murtaugh]], who stepped down for health reasons. The Pirates battled for the pennant until the closing days of the {{Baseball year|1965}} and {{Baseball year|1966}} seasons—each year finishing third behind the champion [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] and the runner-up [[San Francisco Giants]]. But when the {{Baseball year|1967}} Pirates—further strengthened by an off-season trade for standout [[shortstop]] [[Maury Wills]]—stumbled to a disappointing .500 mark in mid-season, Walker was let go on July 18 in favor of his predecessor, Murtaugh.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=799&dat=19670719&id=TpYuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IUgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7114,780916 Murtaugh back as Pirates Manager- Harry Walker axed]</ref> Less than a week later, Walker was hired to be the organizational batting coach for the [[Houston Astros]].<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19670722&id=0UVjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VXQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4477,3578422 Walker Astro Batting Coach]</ref>

[[File:Harry Walker 1965.jpg|thumb|180px|Walker in 1965]]
Eleven months later, on June 18, {{Baseball year|1968}}, the Astros replaced skipper [[Grady Hatton]]<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19680618&id=xQIyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BkQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5188,6096821 Astros fire Hatton, hire Harry Walker]</ref> with "Harry the Hat". The last-place {{Baseball year|1968}} Astros were only 23–38 under Hatton, but, featuring players like [[Joe Morgan]], [[Jimmy Wynn]], and [[Don Wilson (baseball)|Don Wilson]], their record under Walker improved to 49–52. In {{Baseball year|1969}}, they contended for the [[National League West Division]] title before fading to finish 12 games behind the [[Atlanta Braves]]. After back-to-back 79–83 marks in {{Baseball year|1970}} and {{Baseball year|1971}}, Walker was sacked August 26, {{Baseball year|1972}}, in favor of [[Leo Durocher]]; with the Astros at 67–54 and in third place at the time of the firing, it was Walker's best season in Houston. Over his managing career, he won 630 games, losing 604 (.511). After his firing, Walker returned to the Cardinals as a hitting instructor.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19721109&id=_XpQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XxEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3541,3168352 Walker Cards hitting aide]{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==College head baseball coach==
Walker served as the head coach for the [[UAB Blazers baseball]] team at the [[University of Alabama at Birmingham]] from 1979 to 1986, as the program's first coach.<ref name=UABmg/> In eight seasons, he compiled a record of 211–171, a .552 winning percentage.<ref name=UABmg/> In 1980, the Blazers finished first in the [[Sun Belt Conference]]'s North Division in the program's second season, and repeated as division champions in 1981 and 1982.<ref name=UABmg>{{cite web |url=https://uabsports.com/documents/2020/2/13/2020_UAB_Baseball_Media_Guide.pdf |title=2020 UAB Baseball Media Guide |page=73 |publisher=UAB Baseball |via=uabsports.com |access-date=December 17, 2020}}</ref> He led them to the NCAA Tournament in 1983, the first time the program reached it in history.

==Legacy and death==
Walker was profiled in [[Jim Bouton]]'s memoir of the 1969 season, ''[[Ball Four]]''. Bouton mentioned that other players warned him about Walker as a guy who was going to scream at him and that he can adjust to him just like they had. Upon meeting him, Bouton felt that he would get along with Walker, and he credited him as the reason the team was doing as well as it was, one who managed to "keep everybody agitated and playing better baseball."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bouton |first=Jim |author-link= |date= 2000|title=Ball Four: The Final Pitch |url= |location= |publisher=Sports Publishing |pages=334, 354|isbn=1-58261-310-9}}</ref>

Walker's uniform number 32 has been [[Retired number|retired]] by the UAB baseball program, and he was inducted to the [[Alabama Sports Hall of Fame]] in 1978.<ref name=UABmg/>

Walker died in [[Birmingham, Alabama]], in 1999 at the age of 80.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1734&dat=19990809&id=fBMeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6VIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5377,3435946 Harry Walker dies]</ref> His interment was at Cedar Grove Cemetery in [[Leeds, Alabama]].<ref name=retro/> He was survived by his wife, Dot, and three daughters.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/10/sports/harry-walker-80-is-dead-a-fidgeter-with-a-purpose.html |title=Harry Walker, 80, Is Dead; A Fidgeter With a Purpose |first=Richard |last=Goldstein |website=[[The New York Times]] |page=C-20 |via=nytimes.com |date=August 10, 1999 |access-date=December 17, 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball player-managers]]
* [[List of St. Louis Cardinals coaches]]
* [[List of second-generation Major League Baseball players]]

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

==Further reading==
*{{SABR Baseball Biography Project|3bbe3106}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070111135901/http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/walkeha01.php Biography] at thebaseballpage.com

==External links==
*{{baseballstats|mlb=123825|espn=|br=w/walkeha01|fangraphs=|brm=walker005har|retro=W/Pwalkh102}}
*{{baseball-reference manager|walkeha01}}
*{{find a Grave|6929399}}
* [http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/albr/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/57-86HistoryRecords.pdf UAB Baseball Records] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112172845/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/albr/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/57-86HistoryRecords.pdf |date=2012-11-12 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-sports}}
{{succession box | title=[[Columbus Red Birds]] [[manager (baseball)|manager]] | before=[[Rollie Hemsley]] | years=1951| after=[[Johnny Keane]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[Rochester Red Wings]] [[manager (baseball)|manager]] | before=[[Johnny Keane]] | years=1952–1955| after=[[Lou Kahn]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[Houston Buffaloes]] [[manager (baseball)|manager]] | before=[[Mike Ryba]] | years=1956–1958| after=[[Rube Walker]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[St. Louis Cardinals]] [[coach (baseball)|first-base coach]] | before=[[Terry Moore (baseball)|Terry Moore]] | years=1959–1962 | after=[[Joe Schultz Jr.|Joe Schultz]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[Atlanta Crackers]] [[manager (baseball)|manager]] | before=[[Joe Schultz Jr.|Joe Schultz]] | years=1963| after=[[Jack McKeon]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[Jacksonville Suns]] [[manager (baseball)|manager]] | before=[[Casey Wise]] | years=1964| after=[[Grover Resinger]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{NL batting title}}
{{St. Louis Cardinals managers}}
{{Pittsburgh Pirates managers}}
{{Houston Astros managers}}
{{1942 St. Louis Cardinals}}
{{1946 St. Louis Cardinals}}
{{2007–09 International League Hall of Fame}}
{{UAB Blazers baseball coach navbox}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Harry}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Atlanta Crackers managers]]
[[Category:Baseball managers]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Chicago Cubs players]]
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[[Category:Columbus Red Birds players]]
[[Category:Greenville Spinners players]]
[[Category:Houston Astros managers]]
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[[Category:Major League Baseball center fielders]]
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