The Lifelong Journey To World Championships
Albert Bluford “Rube” Walker was born May 16th, 1926 in Lenoir into a poor family. His father would bring home string every day from his job and wrap it around a golf ball until it was the size of a baseball so the children would have baseballs to play with. Despite not having a legitimate, so to speak, baseball to play with Walker showed potential in his childhood. Walker grew up a hardworking individual working on his family’s farm in order to support the family. Playing baseball started with Walker playing as a bat boy for the Lenoir team in the Class D North Carolina State League. Walker’s icon was Rube Robinson, the superstar of the team. He quickly acquired the nickname “Rube”.
Walker’s career commenced upon graduating Lenoir High School. In 1944, Erwin of the Class D Appalachian League signed Walker. The league was a Chicago Cubs farm team, while on the team Walker batted .264. In 1945, Walker was playing the season with Nashville of the Southern Association but he was only batting .216; consequently, he was sent to play the rest of the year with Portsmouth in the Class B Piedmont League where he was batting an average of .258. In 1946, Walker had a tremendous year with Davenport in the Class B Three-I League leading the circuit with a batting average of .354, clubbing 13 home runs, and driving home 85 runs. Following one tremendous season with another he was back in Nashville in 1947 with a .331 batting average, 22 home runs, hit in 10-consecutive at-bats, and 105 runs batted in. After being extremely impressed with two consecutive outstanding seasons the Cubs signed a contract with Walker in 1948. Rookie year showed for a promising future with Walker appearing in 79 of the Cubs’ games and acquiring a batting average of .275; the games and batting average were record highs just as Rube was becoming a career backup. However, he appeared in only 56 and 74 games in 1949 and 1950 respectively, and only had a batting average of .244 and .230. Walker began the 1951 season with the Cubs and shortly acquired a spot in the eight-player trade that was sent off to Brooklyn to continue the rest of his career with the Dodgers, holding the position of reserve catcher. Following the Dodgers move to Los Angeles before the 1958 season tragedy struck with an automobile accident involving the catcher. Walker being a caring individual was so full of grief he had little desire of the opportunity to become number one catcher. Consequently, on June 17, 1958 because of his unsatisfactory batting average of .114 and having only 44 at-bats Walker was discarded. After the denouement of his playing career, Walker immediately obtained the position as a coach for the major league team of the Dodgers.: however, in …show more content…
Walker instituted the “Walker’s Law” which stated that since Walker thought there was only so many pitches in an arm, no pitches could be thrown without Walker’s approval. Constructing a change that Walker thought would be beneficial to his pitchers’ strength and health, he invented the five-man rotation. The five-man rotation was something that all teams ended up adopting. Also, Walker named the call of the pitch that became a famous home run: the Bobby Thomson blast in the 1951 National League playoff. However, in 1970 luck started to diminish for Walker and the Mets. Dropping to only 86 wins in 1970 and 1971, they also had terrible seasons in 1972, 1973, and 194 due to an excessive amount of injuries. Claiming his third CY Young Award, Walker left the Mets on a high note in 1975. Walker claimed a pitching coach position for the Atlanta Braves bringing them to win the Western Division title in 1982. However, the Braves lost to St. Louis in the National League Championship Series. Consequently, ending Walker’s nearly 40 years in uniform he was discarded. However, Walker didn’t end his career there. He completed his career by scouting for the Braves and the Cardinals. Devastating news struck Walker after completing his career; in the summer of 1992 information was found that he had lung cancer and later died in December of the same year. However, Walker lived a long substantial life of playing
Albert Bluford “Rube” Walker was born May 16th, 1926 in Lenoir into a poor family. His father would bring home string every day from his job and wrap it around a golf ball until it was the size of a baseball so the children would have baseballs to play with. Despite not having a legitimate, so to speak, baseball to play with Walker showed potential in his childhood. Walker grew up a hardworking individual working on his family’s farm in order to support the family. Playing baseball started with Walker playing as a bat boy for the Lenoir team in the Class D North Carolina State League. Walker’s icon was Rube Robinson, the superstar of the team. He quickly acquired the nickname “Rube”.
Walker’s career commenced upon graduating Lenoir High School. In 1944, Erwin of the Class D Appalachian League signed Walker. The league was a Chicago Cubs farm team, while on the team Walker batted .264. In 1945, Walker was playing the season with Nashville of the Southern Association but he was only batting .216; consequently, he was sent to play the rest of the year with Portsmouth in the Class B Piedmont League where he was batting an average of .258. In 1946, Walker had a tremendous year with Davenport in the Class B Three-I League leading the circuit with a batting average of .354, clubbing 13 home runs, and driving home 85 runs. Following one tremendous season with another he was back in Nashville in 1947 with a .331 batting average, 22 home runs, hit in 10-consecutive at-bats, and 105 runs batted in. After being extremely impressed with two consecutive outstanding seasons the Cubs signed a contract with Walker in 1948. Rookie year showed for a promising future with Walker appearing in 79 of the Cubs’ games and acquiring a batting average of .275; the games and batting average were record highs just as Rube was becoming a career backup. However, he appeared in only 56 and 74 games in 1949 and 1950 respectively, and only had a batting average of .244 and .230. Walker began the 1951 season with the Cubs and shortly acquired a spot in the eight-player trade that was sent off to Brooklyn to continue the rest of his career with the Dodgers, holding the position of reserve catcher. Following the Dodgers move to Los Angeles before the 1958 season tragedy struck with an automobile accident involving the catcher. Walker being a caring individual was so full of grief he had little desire of the opportunity to become number one catcher. Consequently, on June 17, 1958 because of his unsatisfactory batting average of .114 and having only 44 at-bats Walker was discarded. After the denouement of his playing career, Walker immediately obtained the position as a coach for the major league team of the Dodgers.: however, in …show more content…
Walker instituted the “Walker’s Law” which stated that since Walker thought there was only so many pitches in an arm, no pitches could be thrown without Walker’s approval. Constructing a change that Walker thought would be beneficial to his pitchers’ strength and health, he invented the five-man rotation. The five-man rotation was something that all teams ended up adopting. Also, Walker named the call of the pitch that became a famous home run: the Bobby Thomson blast in the 1951 National League playoff. However, in 1970 luck started to diminish for Walker and the Mets. Dropping to only 86 wins in 1970 and 1971, they also had terrible seasons in 1972, 1973, and 194 due to an excessive amount of injuries. Claiming his third CY Young Award, Walker left the Mets on a high note in 1975. Walker claimed a pitching coach position for the Atlanta Braves bringing them to win the Western Division title in 1982. However, the Braves lost to St. Louis in the National League Championship Series. Consequently, ending Walker’s nearly 40 years in uniform he was discarded. However, Walker didn’t end his career there. He completed his career by scouting for the Braves and the Cardinals. Devastating news struck Walker after completing his career; in the summer of 1992 information was found that he had lung cancer and later died in December of the same year. However, Walker lived a long substantial life of playing