Walter Allen Calhoun (August 21, 1911 – October 2, 1976), nicknamed "Lefty", was an American

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

in the 1930s and 1940s. A native of

Union City, Tennessee Union City is a city in and the county seat of Obion County, Tennessee, United States. 11,170 people were living in the town as of the 2020 census. It is the principal urban settlement of the surrounding micropolitan area, which includes Obion Cou ...

, Calhoun made his Negro leagues debut in 1932 with the

Montgomery Grey Sox The Montgomery Grey Sox were a Negro Southern League (NSL) baseball team based in Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major gene ...

and

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the l ...

. He went on to play for several teams, and was selected to represent the

St. Louis–New Orleans Stars The St. Louis–New Orleans Stars, originally the Indianapolis ABCs and then the St. Louis Stars, were a major Negro league baseball team that played in the Negro American League from 1938 through 1941. They disbanded for the 1942 season due to f ...

in the 1940

East–West All-Star Game The East–West All-Star Game was an annual all-star game for Negro league baseball players. The game was the brainchild of Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1933 in baseball, 1933 he decided to emulate the Major League Baseball ...

. Calhoun finished his career in 1946 with the

Indianapolis Clowns The Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League. Tracing their origins back to the 1930s, the Clowns were the last of the Negro league teams to disband, continuing to play exhibition games into the 1980s. Th ...

. He died in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

in 1976 at age 65.

References

External links

an
Seamheads
1911 births 1976 deaths Harrisburg Stars players Indianapolis ABCs (1938) players Indianapolis Clowns players Memphis Red Sox players Montgomery Grey Sox players St. Louis–New Orleans Stars players New York Black Yankees players Philadelphia Stars players St. Louis Stars (1939) players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Tennessee People from Union City, Tennessee 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-1910s-stub