Harry Walker
| Harry Walker | |||
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| Center fielder / Manager | |||
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Born: October 22, 1916 Pascagoula, Mississippi |
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Died: August 8, 1999 (aged 82) Birmingham, Alabama |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 25, 1940, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| August 19, 1955, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .296 | ||
| Home runs | 10 | ||
| Runs batted in | 214 | ||
| Managerial record | 630–604 | ||
| Winning % | .511 | ||
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As player
As manager |
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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As player
As manager
Harry William Walker, known to baseball fans of the middle 20th century as "Harry the Hat" (October 22, 1916 – August 8, 1999), was an American baseball player, manager and coach.
Born in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Harry was 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 an outfielder, left-handed hitter, and National League batting champion. He was also the nephew of fellow Major League outfielder Ernie Walker.
"Harry the Hat" got his nickname from his habit during at-bats of continually adjusting his cap between pitches—there were no batting helmets in his day. His batting title came in 1947, when he hit .363 in a season during which he was traded from his original team, the St. Louis Cardinals, to the Philadelphia Phillies. The previous year he was one of the stars of the Cardinals’ 1946 World Series championship team. In the decisive seventh game against the Boston Red Sox, with Enos Slaughter on first base, Harry doubled to left center and Slaughter, running on the pitch and taking advantage of a slow relay from the Red Sox' Johnny Pesky, scored from first base in a "mad dash" with the winning run. He knocked in six runs during that Series, and batted .412. Harry lacked his brother Dixie's power—he hit only ten home runs in all or parts of 11 seasons in the National League—but he compiled a .296 lifetime batting average with the Cards, Phils, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds and was to be famed throughout his coaching and managing career as a batting tutor. Harry and Dixie are the only brothers in MLB history to win batting titles, Dixie won the National League batting title with a .357 average in 1944 while playing for the Dodgers, while Harry accomplished the historical feat in 1947 after a trade from the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies winning the National League batting title with a .363 average.
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