| Dixie Walker | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Walker in 1949 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born:(1910-09-24)September 24, 1910 Villa Rica, Georgia, U.S. | |
| Died: May 17, 1982(1982-05-17) (aged 71) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 28, 1931, for the New York Yankees | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 22, 1949, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .306 |
| Hits | 2,064 |
| Home runs | 105 |
| Runs batted in | 1,023 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Fred E. "Dixie"Walker (September 24, 1910 – May 17, 1982) was an American professionalbaseball player,coach,scout andminor leaguemanager. He played as aright fielder inMajor League Baseball from 1931 to 1949. Although Walker was a five-timeAll-Star selection, and won aNational League batting championship (1944) as well as anRBI championship (1945) as a member of theBrooklyn Dodgers, his accomplishments as a player were overshadowed by his attempt to keepJackie Robinson from joining the Dodgers in1947.[1] He also played for theNew York Yankees,Chicago White Sox,Detroit Tigers andPittsburgh Pirates.[2]
In 11 years in the National League, Walker posted a .310batting average (in nine seasons in the American League, an average of .295),[2] with 105 totalhome runs and 1,023RBIs in 1,905games.[2] Walker's popularity with theEbbets 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).[3]
Born on September 24, 1910, inVilla Rica, Georgia,[2] Walker was the scion of a baseball family.[4][5][6] His father,Ewart (the original "Dixie Walker"), was apitcher for theWashington Senators (1909–12); an uncle,Ernie Walker, was anoutfielder for theSt. Louis Browns (1913–15);[5] and his younger brother,Harry "the Hat" Walker, also an outfielder, played for fourNational League teams between 1940 and 1955 and managed theSt. Louis Cardinals (1955),Pittsburgh Pirates (1965–67) andHouston Astros (1968–72).[4][6] All four Walkers batted left-handed and threw right-handed.[2][4][5][6]
Walker originally entered the major leagues with theNew York Yankees, and was considered the heir toBabe Ruth as the team'sleft fielder after playing with the Yankees in 1931, and again from 1933 to 1936.
After stints with theChicago White Sox andDetroit Tigers, Walker blossomed into a star with theBrooklyn Dodgers, with whom he played from 1939 to 1947. He was a five timeAll 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 upStan 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 the1946 season, Walker became the first National League "player representative" recognized by major league owners. The post was created to stave off the formation of aplayers' union in the wake of the short-livedAmerican 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 thePittsburgh Pirates, for whom he played two seasons before retiring in 1949.
In 1905 games covering 18 seasons, Walker compiled a .306batting average (2,064-for-6,740) with 1,038runs, 376doubles, 96triples, 105home runs, 1,023RBI, 817base on balls, a .383on-base percentage and a .437slugging percentage. Defensively, he recorded a .972fielding percentage. In the 1941 and 1947 World Series, playing for theBrooklyn Dodgers, he hit .222 (10-for-45) with one home run and four RBI.[2]
The Pirates released Walker after the 1949 season, and he began a managing and coaching career as manager of the minor leagueAtlanta Crackers. In his first year as manager, they won theSouthern Association pennant. He then led them to finishes of sixth and second.
Walker coached with theSt. Louis Cardinals in 1953, but left partway through the season to manage the Cardinals' Houston team in theTexas League. He managed Houston through 1954, after which he managed in theInternational League, first with theRochester Red Wings (1955–1956), where he won back-to-backGovernors' Cup championships, and then with theToronto Maple Leafs (1957–1959).
TheMilwaukee 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.
Walker vocally opposed theparticipation 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 the1941 MLB Series with no complaints. He suggested he would not play for the Dodgers if a black baseball player were permitted on the team.[3] He reportedly initiated a player petition within the Dodgers in 1947, opposing Jackie Robinson joining the team,[3] and he wrote a letter to Dodgers ownerBranch Rickey asking to be traded.[7]
From theMLB Network specialJackie Robinson: ”A very popular player, a charming fellow, [Dixie Walker] prepared a petition [for DodgersmanagerLeo Durocher] saying, ‘If you promote a black man [Robinson], we will not play.’Branch Rickey [the Dodgers'president andgeneral 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."[8] 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.[7] In his 2002 book,The Era, 1947–1957, authorRoger Kahn wrote that Walker admitted to starting the Dodgers' player petition in 1947, in which the signatories opposed the integration of baseball.[3] 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."[3] 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.[3]
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 theSt. Louis Cardinals reportedly were in favor of the idea, the quick intervention of their owner,Sam Breadon, and National League presidentFord Frick, immediately reported byStanley Woodward in theNew York Herald Tribune, destroyed the strike movement.[9]
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 atElmwood Cemetery in Birmingham.
(quote) Brother ofErnie Walker, Father of Dixie Walker and Father ofHarry Walker
(quote) Bats: Left, Throws: Right" and "Team: Browns 1913-1915
(quote) Bats: Left, Throws: Right" and "Teams (by GP): Cardinals/Phillies/Reds/Cubs 1940-1955
· Baseball Almanac, orRetrosheet| Achievements | ||
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| Preceded by | Hitting for the cycle September 2, 1944 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
