William Henry "Bucky" Walters (April 19, 1909 – April 20, 1991) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

from 1931 to 1950. He was a six-time All-Star and the 1939

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

Most Valuable Player. Walters began his MLB career as a position player, and appeared in 184 games (177 started) as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

before he converted to full-time pitcher. Over the course of his 19-year big-league career, he played for the Boston Braves (1931–32, 1950),

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(1933–34), Philadelphia Phillies (1934–1938) and Cincinnati Reds (1938–1948). Walters later became a major league manager and pitching coach. He was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, batted and threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed .

Playing career

In his 16-season

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitching career, Walters posted a 198–160 won–lost record with 1,107 strikeouts and a 3.30 ERA in 3,104 innings and 428 appearances. He allowed 2,990 hits and 1,121 bases on balls, and posted a 1.34 WHIP. Walters threw 242 complete games and 42

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

during his career, and was 160–107 (2.93) in 312 games as a member of the Reds. Walters broke into the majors as a

for the Boston Braves in 1931. After two seasons, he failed with the Braves ( hitting only .191 in 32 total games). But in 1933, he hit .376 in the Pacific Coast League to earn a shot with the Boston Red Sox of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

, where he batted .244 with eight home runs in 75 games between July 19, 1933, and May 18, 1934. It was not until Walters was purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies from the Red Sox on June 14, 1934—and he was 25 years old—that he converted to pitching. After getting into 83 games as an infielder (80 at third base) for the Phils, he made his mound debut September 24 by tossing two innings of hitless

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He got his first MLB start six days later against the Braves, and allowed one

unearned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an error ...

in five innings.

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

br>1934 NL Pitching Log for Bucky Walters
/ref> Then, in 1935, Walters pitched in 24 games, with 22 starts, and notched nine victories. He became a sinker-ball specialist, and after winning 14 games (for a Phillies team that won only 61 contests all year) and leading the

with 34 starts in 1937, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds on June 13, 1938. In 1939 and 1940, Walters helped the Reds win two straight National League pennants, in each season leading NL pitchers in wins, ERA, complete games and innings pitched. His most productive season came in 1939, when he won the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

with 27 victories, a 2.29 ERA, and 137 strikeouts (tied with

Claude Passeau Claude William Passeau (April 9, 1909 – August 30, 2003) was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1935 through 1947, Passeau played with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1935), Philadelphia Phillies (1936–39) and Chicago Cubs ( ...

). For his performance, Walters garnered Most Valuable Player honors, the second of three straight Cincinnati players to win the award (

Ernie Lombardi Ernesto Natali Lombardi (April 6, 1908 – September 26, 1977), was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the Brooklyn Robins, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves, and New York Giants during ...

and Frank McCormick were the others). In 1940, Walters won 22 games and posted a 2.48 ERA. When the

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

swept the Reds in four games In the

1939 World Series The 1939 World Series featured the three-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Cincinnati Reds, who were making their first Series appearance since winning the scandal-tainted 1919 World Series. The Yankees swept the Series in fou ...

, Walters started and lost Game 2 and was the loser in

of the final game. Nevertheless, in the 1940 Series, facing

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, Walters gave the National League its first Series game victory since 1937 with a three-hitter in Game 2. Four days later, he evened the Series for the Reds in Game 6 with a five-hit

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

. He also became the first pitcher in 14 years to hit a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in the Series. In Game 7, the Reds won the second world championship of their modern (post-1900) history. In 1944, Walters posted a league-high 23 wins while losing only 8, and compiled a 2.40 ERA. An excellent hitting pitcher in his major league career, Walters posted a .243

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(477-for-1966) with 227 runs, 23 home runs and 234 RBI. Like fellow pitcher

Wes Ferrell Wesley Cheek Ferrell (February 2, 1908 – December 9, 1976) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball from 1927 through 1941. Primarily a starting pitcher, Ferrell played for the Cleveland Indians (192 ...

, Walters was occasionally used as a pinch hitter during the 1940s.

Manager and coach

He was named manager of the Reds on August 6, 1948, his last year as active player for Cincinnati, taking over from Johnny Neun. At the time, the club was 44–56 ( .440) and seventh in the eight-team National League. Walters led the Reds to a 20–33 (.377) mark, still in seventh place but only one-half game from the league cellar. Retained for 1949, his Reds were 61–90 (.404) on September 27, again lodged in seventh place and 34 games out of first, when Walters was replaced by

Luke Sewell James Luther "Luke" Sewell (January 5, 1901 – May 14, 1987) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Cleveland Indians (1921–1932, 1939), Washington Senators ( ...

at the club's helm. As a manager, he had an 81–123 (.397) record. He briefly returned to pitching in 1950, and made a four-inning relief appearance with the Braves, for whom he was the full-time pitching coach. Walters coached for the Braves (in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

from 1950–1952, and in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

from 1953–1955) and New York Giants (1956–1957). He took a leave of absence from his Boston Braves' coaching tenure on June 6, 1952, to serve as the interim manager of the last minor league edition of the Milwaukee Brewers through the end of that season. The 1952 Brewers won 101 regular-season games, but fell in the finals of the American Association playoffs. Walters then was reappointed the Braves' pitching coach for 1953, with the franchise transferring to Milwaukee during spring training on March 18. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1958. Bucky Walters died in Abington, Pennsylvania, one day after his 82nd birthday. In August 2008, he was named as one of the ten former players that began their careers before 1943 to be considered by the Veterans Committee for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.

References

* Honig, Donald (1975
''Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties Told by the Men Who Played It''
New York: Coward, McGann & Geoghegan. pp. 86–99. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Bucky 1909 births 1991 deaths Baseball players from Philadelphia Boston Braves coaches Boston Braves players Boston Red Sox players Cincinnati Reds managers Cincinnati Reds players High Point Pointers players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Major League Baseball player-managers Milwaukee Braves coaches Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) managers Mission Reds players Montreal Royals players Nashville Vols players National League All-Stars National League ERA champions National League Most Valuable Player Award winners National League Pitching Triple Crown winners National League strikeout champions National League wins champions New York Giants (NL) coaches Philadelphia Phillies players Portland Mariners players Providence Grays (minor league) players Williamsport Grays players

Playing career

Manager and coach

See also

References

External links