Harry Walker
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | September 22, 1918 Pascagoula, MS |
| Date and Place of Death: | August 8, 1999 Birmingham, AL |
| Baseball Experience: | Major League |
| Position: | Outfield |
| Rank: | Private First-Class |
| Military Unit: | 65th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized), 65th Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
Harry W. "The Hat" Walker was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on
October 22, 1916. A member of a distinguished baseball family, he was
the son of former Washington Senators’ pitcher Ewart “Dixie” Walker and
the brother of Fred “Dixie” Walker, like Harry a left-handed hitting
outfielder, and one-time National League batting champion.
Walker earned his nickname, "Harry The Hat", from his habit during
at-bats of continually adjusting his cap between pitches. He began his
career in professional baseball in 1937 and first appeared for the
Cardinals in 1940, playing seven games and batting a lowly .185. He was
back with St. Louis the following year for another seven games, but
played 74 games in 1942 and batted a superb .314. In 1943, Walker was
the Cardinals’ regular left fielder appearing in 148 games, producing a
.294 batting average and appearing in the World Series.
“The next morning after the Series,” Walker told author Richard
Goldstein, “Al Brazle and I were inducted in the Army at Jefferson
Barracks [Missouri]. Originally we thought we were going down to Memphis
to an air base, but it seems that Pete Reiser’s troop commander at Fort
Riley, Kansas, had a big pull at Jefferson Barracks. So we went to Fort
Riley."
Walker was a private at the Cavalry Replacement Training Center (CRTC)
at Fort Riley. In February 1944, he was taken seriously ill with spinal
meningitis. “I almost died with it,” he recalled. But Walker recovered
sufficiently to play for the CRTC Centaurs baseball team. Reiser – the
Centaurs manager - had an impressive line-up that included Brazle, Ken
Heintzelman, Lonnie Frey, Murry Dickson, Joe Garagiola and Rex Barney.
The Centaurs played in the 1944 Kansas Victory League in Wichita, which
consisted of four service teams and two factory clubs. “All players here
at camp do a full day’s work,” Reiser assured the Ogden
Standard-Examiner on July 26, 1944. “We work out from four to six each
night unless it’s a game.”
On July 27, 1944, the Centaurs played a War Bond game against the Toledo
Mud Hens to raise $500,000 in bond sales for the purchase of a B-29
Superfortress bomber. The Centaurs won the game, 11-10, as the Mud Hens
committed six errors. In August 1944, the Centaurs competed in the
National Semi-Pro championship tournament but were knocked out in the
early rounds. The Sherman Field Flyers, based at Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas, were the eventual winners behind the pitching of Herman Besse.
In September 1944, Walker, along with major leaguers Brazle,
Heintzelman, George Archie and George Scharein, were assigned to the
65th Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized), 65th Infantry Division at Camp
Shelby, Mississippi. Together they were sent overseas to Europe with the
65th Infantry Division. “We stayed pretty much together all through,
went about five hundred miles in combat,” said Walker.
Walker earned a Bronze Star for "meritorious service in connection with
military operations," and a Purple Heart for wounds received on March
22, 1945. At one time Walker's unit was ordered to hold a bridge and
stop German troops trying to get across. Manning a machine gun on a
Jeep, Walker was faced with an enemy that refused to stop. "So that's
when I had to start shooting," he told author Frederick Turner, "and I
just cut through the whole mess, and they were scattered everywhere,
firing back and forth at you, and you're just out there on point like a
sitting duck."
On another occasion he was on patrol when he ran into three German
guards. "They came within ten feet of us," he recalled. "The only thing
that saved us was they thought we were Germans retreating from fighting.
Those three guards walked up to us, and one of them asked me, in German,
where the Americans were. I asked them, in English, to surrender.
Instead, he threw his rifle up in my face. I had a .45 caliber revolver,
one that I'd bought myself ... I shot all three Germans. Five shots, and
all five hit them. But it was close. That rifle was only about four feet
from me when I started shooting. What saved me was that he was trying to
get his safety bolt off. He couldn't get it off before I was able to get
him."
Days later the war in Europe was over and Walker's next assignment was
to organize baseball games for the troops. He located earthmoving
equipment in Czechoslovakia and built a ballfield in Linz, Austria. The
65th Infantry Division baseball team clinched the II Corps championship
title before being defeated in the Third Army play-offs. But for Walker,
the baseball season was not over. He joined the 71st Infantry Division
Red Circlers ball team along with Bob Ramazzotti, Ancil Moore, Johnny
Wyrostek, Garland Lawing, Ewell Blackwell, Al Brazle, Russ Kern, Milt
Ticco, Herb Bremer, Bill Ayers and Jimmy Gladd. Walker, playing
centerfield, helped the team win the American League division of the
Third Army baseball league and a five-game Third Army Championship
Series followed in August 1945 against the National League division
winners - the 76th Infantry Division Onaways. With two shutouts thrown
by Blackwell - including a no-hitter in the second game - the Red
Circlers advanced to the Army Ground Force Championship Series and
easily put aside the 29th Infantry Division in three games to move on to
the ETO World Series against the OISE All-Stars from France.
In front of crowds of 25,000-plus at Soldiers’ Field in Nurnberg,
Germany, the Red Circlers (representing the Third Army) won the first
game, 10-6, before losing two straight to former big leaguer Sam Nahem's
OISE All-Stars. In the fourth game Walker helped even the series with a
two-run home run in the first inning to help the Red Circlers to a 5-0
win behind the five-hit pitching of Bill Ayers. The celebrations,
however, were short-lived as the OISE All-Stars came back the next day
with a 2-1 win to clinch the ETO World Series title.
In October 1945, Walker with teammates Blackwell, Lawing, Heintzelman,
Maurice Van Robays and Benny Zientara joined the OISE All-Stars to play
the Mediterranean champions in Leghorn, Italy.
After two years of military service, Walker returned to the Cardinals in
1946. He played 112 games and batted just .237, but by 1947 he was back
to his pre-war form, if not better, and led the National League with a
.363 batting average.
Walker remained in the major leagues as a player until 1951, and managed
at the major league level in 1955, when he took over the Cardinals from
Eddie Stanky. He managed Pittsburgh from 1965 through mid-1967, and
Houston from 1968 through late 1972. After working as a scout and highly
successful hitting instructor, Walker returned home to Leeds, Alabama in
1979, and became the first head coach of the University of Alabama at
Birmingham baseball program. He held that position until his retirement
in 1986.
Harry Walked passed away in Birmingham on August 8, 1999. He was 80
years old, and is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Leeds, Alabama.
Date Added December 23, 2017
Can you add more information to this biography and help make it the best online resource for this player? Contact us by email
Read Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice Through The Years - an online year-by-year account of military related deaths of ballplayers
Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice is associated with Baseball Almanac
Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice is proud to be sponsored by
