Walter Bernhardt

Walter Jacob Bernhardt

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 175 lb.
• School University of Pennsylvania
• High School Wayland (NY) High School
• Debut July 16, 1918
• Final Game July 16, 1918
• Born May 20, 1893 in Pleasant Village, PA USA
• Died July 26, 1958 in Watertown, NY USA

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Biographical Information

Walter Bernhardt was an Ivy League dentist who pitched one game in the major leagues.

Walter attended Penn to go to dental school in 1916 and played on the college's baseball team in 1917 and 1918. The major leagues of the time sometimes gave promising college graduates a chance to show their stuff, and Bernhardt had that chance in July 1918, not too long after he graduated from college. During 1918, since it was wartime, he served in the Army Dental Corps, and may have been doing so at the time that he pitched.

His only game with the 1918 New York Yankees. A number of other young pitchers got into only one game for the 1918 New York Yankees, but Bernhardt was the only one whose career started and ended with that one game. He pitched 2/3 of an inning, giving up no runs, no hits, and no walks, and striking out one batter, finishing the game. Starting in 1919, he practiced as a dentist in Rochester, NY, and later also ran a farm. He died in 1958.

Related Sites

• Find-A-Grave Memorial for Walter Bernhardt
• Bernhardt at the SABR Bio Project