Walter "Christy" Walsh (December 2, 1891 – December 29, 1955) was an American writer,

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

, and sports agent. He is known for acting as

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

's agent, and is considered to be the first

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

sports agent.

Early career

Walsh graduated from St. Vincent's College in Los Angeles, California in 1911. Walsh was trained as a lawyer, but began his career with the ''

Los Angeles Herald The ''Los Angeles Herald'' or the ''Evening Herald'' was a newspaper published in Los Angeles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1873 by Charles A. Storke, the newspaper was acquired by William Randolph Hearst in 1931. It ...

'' as a reporter and cartoonist. He began working as a

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...

in 1912 when he interviewed Christy Mathewson while Mathewson was vacationing in California. In 1921, Walsh ghostwrote an article for World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker in which he described the

1921 Indianapolis 500 The 9th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 30, 1921. Ralph DePalma dominated another early running of the 500, but again failed to win. He led 109 laps, and had a two-lap lead at the ...

. Walsh and Rickenbacker split the profits of approximately $800. Walsh later moved to New York City and was hired by Maxwell-Chalmers Automobiles in advertising. After being fired, he decided to ghostwrite for athletes full-time.

Ghostwriting syndicate and later career

Between 1921 and 1938, Walsh built and ran a successful ghostwriting syndicate of thirty-four baseball writers.Voigt, David Quentin. His writers included

Ford Frick Ford Christopher Frick (December 19, 1894 – April 8, 1978) was an American sportswriter and baseball executive. After working as a teacher and as a sportswriter for the ''New York American'', he served as public relations director of the Natio ...

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, Bozeman Bulger, and Gene Fowler, among others. Walsh's writers earned $100,000 between 1921 and 1936, and grossed $43,000 in their peak year of 1929. The players Walsh represented included Ruth,

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the l ...

, Dizzy Dean, Rogers Hornsby, John McGraw, Walter Johnson, and

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

. Walsh went to great lengths to sign clients. Besides becoming a delivery boy to meet Ruth, Walsh pursued Walter Johnson into the Pullman's washroom in New Haven, Connecticut. Johnson was paid $1,000, and eventually made $7,000. In 1931, Walsh was hired to write and narrate three short films for Universal Pictures to be called "The Christy Walsh All American Sports Reel". The films were to feature

Knute Rockne Knut ( Norwegian and Swedish), Knud ( Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used ...

. The first short film produced, ''Various Shifts'' (1931), was a visit with Walsh and Rockne at Notre Dame as Rockne and the Notre Dame football team demonstrated various football shifts. The second short film was ''Carry On'' (1931), with Walsh as narrator mourning the death of Rockne who died in a plane crash in March 1931. In 1939, Walsh served as Sports Director for the New York World's Fair. In 1945, Walsh was Associate Producer for a 20th Century Fox feature film about Eddie Rickenbacker. '' Captain Eddie'' was released on June 19, 1945, and starred

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

as Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, and also featured Charles Bickford,

Lynn Bari Lynn Bari (born Marjorie Schuyler Fisher, December 18, 1919 – November 20, 1989) was a film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s. ...

, Lloyd Nolan and

Spring Byington Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of '' December Bride''. She was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player who appeared i ...

Personal life and death

Christy Walsh was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 2, 1891. On April 4, 1935, he married Madeline Souden. The couple had only one child and their marriage ended in divorce. Walsh was also the father-in-law of Peggy Cobb, the stepdaughter of Robert Cobb, the owner of the famous

Brown Derby Brown Derby was a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and best known was shaped like a derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was opened by Wilson Mizner in 1926. The chain ...

Restaurant. Walsh died on December 14, 1955, in North Hollywood, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Christy 1891 births 1955 deaths American sports agents Ghostwriters