The first inductee was statistically prototypical and historically problematic
Introduction
I will eschew a traditional introduction in favor of noting yesterday’s (May 29, 2024) announcement that Negro League players would have their career statistics officially included in those of the Major Leagues. It is notable that Dixie Walker and his role of integration antagonist was the first to have a v16 induction because it’s highly speculated that his attitudes and actions may have kept him away from the ultimate baseball induction – the Hall of Fame.
I implore you to read the linked sources and others to get a full picture of the relationship between Dixie Walker and Jackie Robinson, Walker’s attitude toward race, and general feeling towards how the situation in 1947 unfolded. Ultimately, we’ll come to learn that Walker’s racial prejudice may not have directly affected his v16 story, but it’s an absolutely vital story nonetheless.
Dixie Walker, 17 years old at the time, made his professional debut in 1928. For the next two and half seasons he bounced around various levels and leagues in the South and showed he was quite adept with the bat, with the glove, and on the base paths.
Meanwhile, in the Bronx, the Yankees front office was surely starting to scout who might be the replacement for their aging right fielder…
The Behemoths of Bust
… who just happened to be Babe Ruth. By mid-season 1930 the Yankees felt they had found their guy. Dixie had amassed 11 home runs and a robust .401 batting average for the Greenville Spinners of the Class-B South Atlantic League when he was signed by the Yankees. He continued to produce in the Yankees system for the rest of the year.
In 1931 a series of injuries befell the Yankees outfield to the point where Dixie got called up for a two game cup of coffee. He was returned to the minors for the rest of 1931 and the entirety of the 1932 season and his production remained steadfast. By all accounts the Yankees had selected a quality successor for the Babe.
Dixie began the 1933 season on the big league club as their fourth outfielder.
LEDGER 1: June 11, 1933 (Game 1) at Boston Red Sox
On June 20 Dixie started his run as the Yankees starting center fielder and hit his second career home run. Then it was off to the races.
LEDGER 2: June 20, 1933 at Chicago White Sox
LEDGER 3: June 22, 1933 at St. Louis Browns
LEDGER 4: July 4, 1993 (Game 1) vs. Washington Senators
LEDGER 5: July 8, 1993 vs. Detroit Tigers
LEDGER 6: July 23, 1933 (Game 2) vs. Cleveland Indians
Dixie collected 15 home runs by the end of the of the 1933 season. By virtue of timing and circumstance he only played against the Philadelphia Athletics in seven games, making them the only AL team he faced where he didn’t hit a home run.
The end of Dixie’s 1933 season was also premature as he injured his right shoulder in a game on September 19th – a harbinger of an injury prone future.
Dixie’s 1934 season was limited to a pinch hitting and running role after he developed arm soreness in spring training. He played in seventeen games and had no home runs and by mid-season had been placed on the voluntarily retired list.
Dixie brought a seemingly healthy shoulder into a preseason exhibition game in 1935, but left with it dislocated. His time with the Yankees in 1935 was even shorter – eight games and no home runs. Dixie was sent to the minors where he had decent production, but ultimately not enough to warrant playing time for the big club.
Based on the hype and hope placed on him, Dixie Walker could be certainly considered a bust for the Yankees. By May of 1936 the Dixie Walker era had come to a close. The Yankees sold his contract to the White Sox, making room on the roster for future Yankees legend and true successor to Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio.
The Trouble with Tendons
Dixie was an every day starter once he joined the White Sox but his season was cut short by yet another shoulder injury resulting in a 26-game, zero home run season.
The off-season saw Dixie go to the operating room where he had his shoulder tendons “refastened.” Years later, Tommy John (who knew a thing or two about tendons) recalled an encounter where Dixie squawked at him, “Boy, you better get a little more velocity on that fastball!” after Tommy had his eponymous surgery. Turned out that Dixie too was a benefactor of tendon surgery.
Rested and rejuvenated, Dixie had a quality 1937 season with 154 games and nine home runs, including the two remaining American League ledgers.
LEDGER 7: July 25, 1937 (Game 1) vs. New York Yankees
LEDGER 8: August 1, 1937 (Game 1) at Philadelphia Athletics
Walker-for-Walker
Despite a quality season, the White Sox completed a trade with the Tigers that would send Dixie and infielder Tony Piet to Detroit in exchange for Gee Walker (no relation). Gee Walker was extremely well-liked in Detroit and the trade resulted in a long-lasting unfavorable fan reaction.
Dixie’s time with the Tigers was inconsequential from a v16 perspective. However the pairing of him and Tony Piet in the trade serves as a great illustration of how careers had to be constructed in order to even qualify for induction.
1938 was Piet’s only season with the Tigers, but allowed him to complete a quadfecta of teams – Pittsburgh and Cincinnati from the National League and Chicago and Detroit in the American League. By the end of Walker’s career, he and Piet were two of only fourteen players who played for at least two NL teams and hit eight total home runs against NL opponents AND played for at least two AL teams and hit eight home runs against AL opponents. This combination was the barest minimum to be have the opportunity to join the Club.
Ultimately, Dixie’s time in Detroit was statistically productive but steadfastly unpopular. He was waived by the Tigers mid-season in 1939.
The People’s Cherce
Dixie was signed by Brooklyn and almost immediately became one of the most popular and productive players on the up-swinging Dodgers. His first two home runs with the Dodgers came in back to back games.
LEDGER 9: September 1, 1939 (Game 2) vs. Chicago Cubs
LEDGER 10: September 2, 1939 (Game 1) at New York Giants
In 1940 Dixie cruised through an MVP-caliber season collecting six more home runs and two more ledgers.
LEDGER 11: June 6, 1940 at St. Louis Cardinals
LEDGER 12: June 29, 1940 vs. Boston Braves
During the 1941 off-season the Dodgers signed future Hall of Famer Paul Waner who manager Leo Durocher slated to become the starting right fielder instead of Dixie. This decision prompted fans to rally around Walker and generate a petition that didn’t budge management’s or ownership’s decision but was the first (and less historic) of two notable petitions involving Walker.
The situation was resolved only when Waner got off to a very poor start and was released. Walker was now the man of the hour finishing 1941 with more MVP votes and three more ledgers.
LEDGER 13: April 24, 1941 vs. Philadelphia Phillies
LEDGER 14: April 30, 1941 vs. Cincinnati Reds
LEDGER 15: May 6, 1941 vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
From the v16 perspective, Walker was now maxed out. His only needed home run would have to come against the Dodgers. The 1942 through 1946 seasons saw All-Star Selections, MVP votes, and cemented Walker as one of the most popular Dodgers ever despite team ups-and-downs through the war years.
A Confederacy of Dodgers
1947 was a momentous year for baseball. Jackie Robinson was prepared to break camp with the big league team to become the first black man to play in the National or American League ushering in the Integration Era. For Walker and other Dodgers, this was a bridge too far. Walker started a petition stating he and others would not play if Robinson was promoted. And this was the second petition that swayed neither management nor ownership. Robinson and Walker played the 1947 as teammates and the Dodgers made it to the precipice of a championship only to fall in game seven of the World Series.
Money or Nothing
Dodgers owner Branch Rickey now enters our final chapter of the Dixie Walker story. Let’s review some facts.
Dixie Walker was a highly skilled, MVP-caliber baseball player
Dixie Walker was one of the most beloved Dodgers
Branch Rickey was notoriously tight with the purse strings, not wanting to pay a lot for even the best players
Dixie Walker orchestrated a petition and wrote a letter requesting to be traded in early 1947 (which were both ignored during the season)
Heading into 1948, Rickey faced a problem. Surely he couldn’t just transact away Dixie Walker lest he incur the wrath of Dodgers fans. But he also couldn’t stomach paying Walker what he was worth. So in a borderline cloak-and-dagger scheme, he moved Walker to the Pittsburgh Pirates where he could earn his worth while running obstruction with Walker’s letter asking to be traded.
To be clear, the consensus appears to be that the letter itself was not the cause of the trade. Instead it was Branch Rickey’s determination to not pay an aging, but productive, Dixie Walker.
The fact that Walker was moved to Pittsburgh is not specifically pertinent to his v16 story. He could have gone to any National League team and finished with the same result. But poetically you could not have a more fitting denouement for the first v-Club inductee.
LEDGER 16: July 20, 1949 at Brooklyn Dodgers
It took Walker 29 games and 106 plate appearances against the Dodgers before he hit his clinching ledger. By the time he hit the home run he was relegated to pinch hitting duty but this particular blast, Walker’s first home run of the year only third for the Pirates, found its way over the right field wall and tied the game.
He would go on to to play in only 36 more career games wherein he would not hit another home run.
Dixie Walker was a tremendous way to start the v-Club’s history in that there was so much wrapped into his career. There will be similar stories of end-of-career heroics and serendipitous circumstances, but none will match the historical implications generated by a single player.
Sources
Dixie Walker – Society for American Baseball Research
Jackie Robinson and Dixie Walker: Myths of the Southern Baseball Player
Dixie Walker – Baseball Reference
5 for Friday: Tommy John, 40 years after the surgery that saved his career
