Walt Leverenz

Walter Fred Leverenz

(Tiny,Lefty)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut April 13, 1913
• Final Game July 23, 1915
• Born July 21, 1888 in Chicago, IL USA
• Died March 19, 1973 in Atascadero, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Walt Leverenz was a pitcher for 23 years (1908-1930), three in the Major Leagues (1913-1915) and 21 in the minors (1908-1912;1915-1930). He served in the United States Armed Forces during World War I(BN).

He was born on July 21, 1888, in Chicago, IL and was 24 years old when he broke into the big leagues on April 13, 1913, with the St. Louis Browns. He played with Worcester in the Northeastern League (1908), Hartford in the Connecticut League (1909-1911), Los Angeles in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) (1911-1912), the Browns (1913-1915), Indianapolis in the American Association (1915), Oakland in the PCL (1915), Rochester in the International League (IL) (1916), Salt Lake City in the PCL (1917-1921), Portland in the PCL (1922-1925), Buffalo in the IL (1926-1927), Toronto in the IL (1928-1929) and Reading in the IL (1930).

Leverenz had two dismal seasons for the Browns, going 6-17 as a rookie in 1913 and 1-12 in 1914 and, after nine games in 1915, returned to the minors. His downfall was the base on balls; he averaged almost five walks and only three strikeouts a game. (WAB)

He was a twenty-game winner three times: 1908 (24 with Worcester); 1912 (23 with Los Angeles); and 1917 (22 with Salt Lake City). He won 269 games in the minors and was 170-151 lifetime in the PCL (1911-1912;1915;1917-1925). He led the PCL in wins with 16 in the War-Shortened 1918 season. Plagued by control problems throughout his career, he walked 1,025 and struck out 1,125 in the PCL; 1,548 BB:1,806 SO overall.

He owned the Ford Dealership in Atascadero, CA from 1947 until he retired in 1958. He died following a stroke at age 84 at General Hospital in Atascadero, was cremated and is interred at Atascadero Cemetery.

Sources

Principal sources for Walt Leverenz include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs {{{WW}}} (WW), old Baseball Registers {{{BR}}} (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN {{{DAG}}} (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) {{{MORE}}} and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

Find-A-Grave Memorial for Walt Leverenz