Gee Walker
Gerald Holmes Walker
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 11", Weight 188 lb.
- School University of Mississippi
- High School Hattiesburg High School
- Debut April 14, 1931
- Final Game September 30, 1945
- Born March 19, 1908 in Gulfport, MS USA
- Died March 20, 1981 in Whitfield, MS USA
Biographical Information[edit]
" . . . the two Walkers, Gee and Dixie . . . actually were similar players - both line-drive .300 hitters who ran well. . . Gee Walker had been immensely popular in Detroit . . ." - Bill James in the The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, writing about the trade involving Gee Walker and Dixie Walker
Outfielder Gerald "Gee" Walker played 15 seasons in the big leagues, several times finishing in the top ten in the league in batting average and often finishing among the leaders in stolen bases.
Walker was born in Gulfport, MS and attended the University of Mississippi in 1927-1928. Other than Don Kessinger, Walker is the player out of the University of Mississippi with the most major league at-bats (through 2009).
Gee was in the minors from 1928 to 1930, mostly hitting around .370. With the 1930 Evansville Hubs, he and his brother Hub Walker hit far higher than anyone else on the team. Gee split the 1931 season between the Detroit Tigers, making his major league debut in April and hitting .296 in 59 games, and the Toronto Maple Leafs, for whom he hit .313 in 43 games. His brother Hub also made his major league debut with the 1931 Tigers.
Gee played with the Tigers through 1937, hitting over .300 in 1932 and from 1934 to 1937. He finished in the top ten in the American League in batting in 1932, 1936 and 1937. Brother Hub was with the team only in 1931, a small piece of 1935, and much later in 1945.
In 1936 Gee's 55 doubles put him second in the league behind teammate Charlie Gehringer's 60. Walker's 55 are still in the top 20 single-season performances of all time, as of 2009.
In 1937 he had over 100 RBI for the first time in his career, with his 113 RBI good for ninth in the league.
Walker appeared in the 1934 and 1935 World Series and was named to the 1937 All-Star team.
After the 1937 season Gee was involved in a trade that involved stars and future stars such as Fred "Dixie" Walker, Vern Kennedy, Marv Owen and Mike Tresh. He was with the Chicago White Sox in 1938 and 1939, driving in 111 runs in 1939, good for fifth in the league in RBI. The year 1940 was spent with the Washington Senators, for whom he drove in 96 runs, by far the tops on the team.
The next year, 1941, he was with the Cleveland Indians before finishing out his major league career with the Cincinnati Reds from 1942 to 1945. Even in his last season, at age 37, he appeared in over 100 games.
In 1946 he played 20 games for the Sacramento Solons. Walker was also a Cincinnati Reds coach in 1946. Then, beginning in 1947, he became a minor league manager from 1947 to 1950 with Columbia and in 1956 with Orlando.
Baseball Digest from August 1976 states that Walker had arthritis during his later years in baseball and after his playing days he worked in real estate in Florida and Mississippi.
He died in 1981 while Hub died in 1982.
Notable Achievements[edit]
- AL All-Star (1937)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 2 (1937 & 1939)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 2 (1936 & 1937)
- 200 Hits Seasons: 1 (1937)
- Won a World Series with the Detroit Tigers in 1935
Further Reading[edit]
- David Raglin: "Gee Walker", in Scott Ferkovich, ed.: Detroit the Unconquerable: the 1935 World Champion Tigers, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2014, pp. 141-145. ISBN 978-1-933599-78-6
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