Walter Charles Post (July 9, 1929 – January 6, 1982) was a

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. 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 (A ...

.Wally Post Fielding
at fangraphs.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 From 1949 through 1964, Post played for the Cincinnati Reds & Redlegs (1949, 1951–57, 1960–63),

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

(1958–60),

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

(1963) and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

(1964).Wally Post Batting
at thebaseballcube.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 He batted and threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed .Wally Post Player Page
at baseball-reference.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 In a 15-season career, Post was a .266

hitter In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to driv ...

with 210

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 ...

s and 699 RBI in 1,204

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

.Wally Post Batting
at baseball-reference.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009

Career

Post is a native of

Wendelin, Ohio Wendelin is an unincorporated community in Mercer County, Ohio, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of Ohio. History A post office called Wendelin was established in 1883, and remained in operation until 1904. Besides the post office, Wendelin has ...

, and played baseball for St. Henry High School.Wally Post still huge in tiny town
at enquirer.com, URL accessed November 24, 2014 He spent most of his career with Cincinnati teams. A powerful slugger in the mid-1950s,Wally Post
at baseballlibrary.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 he also was respected for his strong and accurate throwing arm. Post broke into professional baseball as a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

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 dr ...

in and was converted to an outfielder in 1949, the year of his majors debut.The Obit for Wally Post
at thedeadballera.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 Post spent time in both the minor and major leagues for the next two years before finally being permanently called up to Cincinnati in . His most productive season came in , when he hit .309 with 40 home runs with 109 RBI, all career highs. WallyPostbowman

In , Post and six of his Redleg teammates— Ed Bailey, Johnny Temple,

Roy McMillan Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise t ...

Don Hoak Donald Albert Hoak (February 5, 1928 – October 9, 1969), nicknamed "Tiger", was an American professional baseball third baseman and coach. He played eleven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (–) for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, ...

Gus Bell David Russell "Gus" Bell Jr. (November 15, 1928 – May 7, 1995) was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1950 through 1964, who played with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets and Milwaukee Braves. He batted lef ...

and

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019) was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams, from to . The only player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of both ...

—were "voted" starters on the

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 s ...

All-Star team, the result of a

ballot stuffing Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

campaign by Redlegs fans.

Major League Baseball Commissioner The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...

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 ...

intervened, removing Bell and Post from the starting lineup and replacing them with

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...

and

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...

. Frick allowed Bell to remain on the team as a reserve, while Post was injured and would have been unable to play in any event.1957 All-Star Game
at baseball-almanac.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 On April 14, 1961, Post hit one of the longest recorded home runs in baseball history at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The mammoth blast was estimated at 569 ft. from Jim Brosnan's book "Pennant Race" Post is also noted as the man who ended Aaron's record-setting stint on the 1950s '' Home Run Derby'' show.Walter Charles "Wally" Post
at findagrave.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 Post also hit the first home run at

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ...

in Los Angeles on April 10, 1962.Building O'Malley's Dream Stadium
at walteromalley.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 After playing for the Phillies, Twins, Indians, and in a second stint with the Reds, Post retired in 1963. He was inducted into the

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is an entity established by Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds franchise that pays homage to the team's past through displays, photographs and multimedia. It was instituted in 1958 to recognize th ...

in 1965.Hall of Fame & Museum
at mlb.com, URL accessed August 20, 2009 Following his baseball career, Post worked in management at his father-in-law's business, the Minster Canning Company of

Minster, Ohio Minster is a village in Auglaize and Shelby counties, in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 2,805 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Wapakoneta, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is adjacent to the village of New Bremen ...

. Post died in

St. Henry, Ohio St. Henry is a village in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,596 at the 2020 census. History St. Henry was laid out in 1837 by Johann Heinrich Römer (1805-1874). It laid in a tract of land sold to him by his brother Fran ...

in 1982. He had been undergoing treatments for cancer. He was married to Patricia (Beckman) and they had four children together: Sue, John, Mary, and Cynthia. Post has 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. One of his grandchildren is former Ohio State and NFL quarterback

Bobby Hoying Bobby Hoying (born September 20, 1972) is a former college and professional American football quarterback. He is the grandson of baseball player Wally Post, who played 15 years in the Major Leagues. Post was an outfielder for the Cincinnati Re ...

.Wally Post still huge in tiny town
at reds.enquirer.com, URL accessed December 11, 2009.

References

External links

Wally Post
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Post, Wally 1929 births 1982 deaths Baseball players from Ohio Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Charleston Senators players Cincinnati Redlegs players Cincinnati Reds players Cleveland Indians players Columbia Reds players Deaths from cancer in Ohio Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball right fielders Middletown Rockets players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Minnesota Twins players Muncie Reds players People from Mercer County, Ohio People from St. Henry, Ohio Philadelphia Phillies players Syracuse Chiefs players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players