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Today we welcome back Bill Schaefer with an outstanding essay detailing the life and career of the often-overlooked Harry “The Hat” Walker. I think you’ll enjoy what Bill has to tell us about this interesting, controversial ball player. -GL

THE TURBULENT LIFE OF HARRY “THE HAT” WALKER

“He backs out of the batter’s box. Cap off, cap on, tap left foot with bat, cap off again, tap right foot with bat, cap on again, adjust cap with left hand, cap off again, rub sleeve across face, cap on again, adjust cap with right hand, tap foot.”-unnamed writer

“I relax my muscles, fix my hat and my hair…and maybe get the pitcher and catcher upset a little”-Harry Walker

Harry Walker won the National League batting crown with a .363 batting average, in 1947. And folks were flocking to see the year’s biggest grossing movie, Forever Amber. But ‘47 stands out for me because it marked the first full year of my baseball fanaticism.

That year Walker also led the league in triples with 16 and an OBP of .436. He was a fine center fielder perfecting a sliding-on-his-knees catch, courtesy of the great Terry Moore’s tutelage.  However, he delivered but one home run and knocked in only 41 runs. Management frowned upon such a dearth of power and used it unfairly against “The Hat” in contract negotiations.  (Walker at 6’2” 180 had a lefty power stroke in the minors but was advised to swing a heavier bat and slap the ball the opposite way to survive in the big leagues. He batted .296 for his 11 year career with just 10 homers.)

The contrast from the previous year was stark. He hit only .237 in 1946, returning from the service. In fact, Walker had an anemic .200 average for the Cardinals in his first 10 games of ‘47, when he was promptly dealt to the Phillies for Round Ron Northey. He then proceeded to spray the ball all over the National League at a .371 clip the rest of the way. He was the only player in National League history to win a batting title playing for two teams.

My dad mentioned that New York sports writer Dick Young noticed the official scorer at Shibe Park was awarding Walker a hit on practically every ground ball he beat out, bobbled by an opposing infielder. Philadelphia did its part to keep Harry on top!

After leading baseball with a batting average 20 points higher than Ted Williams, who led the American League with .343, how would you like to hear the following comments when requesting a raise to $30,000?  “Harry, you haven’t shown me you’re a great hitter,” said GM Herb Pennock, peering over his glasses and shaking his head. President Bob Carpenter smiled condescendingly and put it this way: “No, Harry. You just go back to Alabama and think it over.”

So Harry sat it out in Alabama for a while, then caved in a week into spring training 1948 and called Carpenter. He accepted a bad deal, reportedly $22,500. He hoped things would be financially brighter the following year.

“Just call me Hard-Luck Harry,” once bemoaned Walker. During his career, he suffered a barrage of ailments that would choke a horse—from prickly heat to peritonitis and from metatarsal trouble to a burst appendix that nearly proved fatal. He was fired almost too often to account. He had his arm and ankle broken, a tooth knocked out and his shoulder shattered. Once he was hit in the Adam’s apple and couldn’t talk for two months. Another time he couldn’t see for two days.

Following the Yankees’ victory over the Cardinals in the 1943 World Series, Walker and teammate Alpha Brazle reported to the US Army for basic training at fort Riley Kansas. On a January morning in 1944, he complained about feeling “beyond awful.”  He was given pills at the dispensary but they didn’t work. Harry begged Army medical personnel to put him in the hospital but was told he’d have to wait until morning. A fever mounted and raged through the night. He became delirious and raving and had to be restrained in a straitjacket. He was diagnosed with spinal meningitis. Only the new miracle drug penicillin saved Walker’s life. Harry went on to win a bronze star for valor and the Purple Heart.

Harry William Walker drew his first breath in Pascagoula Mississippi, on September 22, 1918. His father (the original Dixie Walker) had pitched for the Washington Senators from 1909 to 1912. His brother Fred “Dixie” Walker became a beloved hero for the Brooklyn Dodgers, known as “The People’s Cherce.” They were the only brother combo in baseball history to each win a batting title. Dixie led the league in 1944, batting .357. He was eight years older than harry but the brothers maintained a touchingly warm, close relationship throughout their lives.

Enos Slaughter was the hero in the 1946 World Series, famously scoring from first on an apparent single in the eighth inning to win the final game, as the Cardinals defeated the Red Sox. But do you know who sliced that sinking line drive to left field? Yup, Harry Walker! “Harry the Hat” went 7-17 in the ‘46 World Series and was a key cog for St. Louis. But you never hear his name mentioned.

Walker never drank alcohol or coffee but had bubbling-over nervous energy. The Hat Trick was not a showboat act, just his way of burning off that excess juice. But it annoyed the hell out of opposing players and umpires. In August of 1947, ump Beans Reardon halted a game twice to go through the same routine as Walker. Then he looked hard at Harry and said, “I just wanted to show you what a jackass you’re making out of yourself.” Walker only grinned and touched his cap.

After his playing career he managed the Cardinals in 1955, the Pirates 65-’67, and the Astros, ’68-’72.  Walker was loved by the fans but his assertive personality created conflict elsewhere. Tired of his rants about things political, Houston Astro’s owner Judge Roy Hofheinz decided it was time for a change in 1973. Walker stayed in the organization as a scout. His nine-year managerial record flashed 630-604 on the ledger.

He was a masterful batting coach and according to a slumping first baseman, Bill White, “He absolutely saved my major league career.” (and, by so doing, also saved an even better career in the Yankees broadcast booth).

Astros GM Spec Richardson remembered, “Some people didn’t like Harry because he talked all the time. But if you listened to him, you learned a lot.”

1978 saw The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), 30 miles from his home in Leeds, hire him to create a varsity baseball program. A much mellower Walker was so successful that eight years later, his number 32 was the first UAB baseball jersey to be retired and he was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.

Walker passed on peacefully on August 8, 1999, at the age of 80. He was survived by his wife, Dot, three daughters, and four grandchildren.

Harry summed up his life succinctly, “Baseball gave me the best of lives. The only thing I never had that I really wanted was a jet airplane.”

Bill Schaefer

Sources: Sport Magazine, July 1948; Harry Walker, The Hard-Luck Kid, by Stan Baumgartner. Harry Walker-Wikipedia; Harry Walker Baseball Reference.com; Society For American Baseball Research (SABR): Harry Walker, by Warren Corbett; The New York Times-Harry Walker, 80, is Dead-A Fidgeter With a Purpose, by Richard Goldstein.

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