BUCKY WALTERS

A Philadelphia boy, 6'1", 180-pound William Henry "Bucky" Walters began his pitching career with the Phillies in 1934. His first few seasons were undistinguished, including a league-leading 21 losses in 1936. In mid-1938, the hometown team gave up on him and traded him to Cincinnati. This had to have been a blessing, because he turned abruptly around, winning 11 games over the remainder of the season for the improving Reds.

Everything came together for Walters and his new team in the 1939 and 1940 campaigns. In the first year, he was a surprise, a rocket, at 27-11, leading the league in wins, ERA (2.29), games started, and innings pitched. Meshing well with fellow starter Paul Derringer (25-7) and hard-hitting first baseman Frank McCormick (.332, 18,128), Walters led the Reds into the World Series for the first time since the 1919 Scandal.

A sweep by the Yankees, in which he was 0-2, was shaken off as he went 22-10, and returned to the Series, in 1940. That time, he was 2-0, with the Reds winning in seven games over the Detroit Tigers and their MVP, Hank Greenberg

He was not in service during World War II, and in 1944, against admittedly weaker competition, posted his third 20-win performance (23-8). By then, he had become a fixture in the Queen City and a member of several NL All-Star teams. In two and a half seasons after the War, in his late 30s, he was a respectable 18-18 for a club that had slipped into the second division. In mid-1948, he stopped pitching to become manager of the Reds, but there was no improvement, and he was let go at the end of 1949. A brief comeback try with the Braves in 1950, at age 40, ended early and he retired for good.

Some might say that Walters had only three, perhaps four, good years, but, in addition to the 20-win seasons, there were five others with 14 or more victories, including 19 in 1941. Overall, his record was 196-160, with a nice ERA of 3.30. Any pitcher around 200 wins with earned runs in the low 3s deserves the attention of those of us who study the days gone by in baseball. An infielder as a younger player, Walters also helped himself and his team as a very good hitting pitcher -.243, with 23 homeruns, 138 extra base hits and 234 RBI. This fellow was a fine ballplayer for over a decade and is well-remembered by older fans in Cincinnati and elsewhere.