Walter Schmid

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born November 11, 1937
• Died February 16, 2002

Biographical Information

Walter Schmid was a star C/1B in the early days of German baseball.

Schmid was part of the first German national team, at the 1954 European Championship. At age 16, he was 1 for 6 with a walk, run and RBI, fielding .857. He was 0 for 8 with 3 walks and 2 errors in the 1955 European Championship but Germany still won Bronze. In the 1956 European Championship, he was 5 for 10 with a homer and two walks, fielding .966. He led the team in hits, average, OBP and slugging - the team OPS was 525 only, less than Schmid's OBP (.538) or slugging (.800).

Only limited stats are available for the 1957 European Championship, but it is known Schmid homered twice and drove in five as a one-man show in a 6-2 upset of the Italian national team. It was Germany's last win over Italy in the European Championship (through 2015). Germany won the Silver Medal, their best finish ever (also through 2015). He was 2 for 5 with a run and RBI in the 1958 European Championship, when Germany won Bronze. He went 2 for 10 with a double, run and walk in the 1960 European Championship.

In the 1962 European Championship, he hit .231/.450/.231 with 6 walks, 6 runs and 5 RBI in six games. He tied Jürgen Helmig for the team lead in walks, tied Jürgen Helmig and Claus Helmig for second in runs (one behind Helmut Weis) and was 3rd in RBI (behind Roland Hoffmann and Claus Helmig). He also pitched one game and got a save (2 K, BB, 2 UER in 1 IP). It was his lone pitching appearance for the national team. The veteran was 3 for 11 with two walks and a run in the 1965 European Championship as Germany won a Bronze. He hit .286/.444/.429 in the 1967 European Championship with 4 runs and 4 walks in 4 games for the Bronze Medal winners. He tied for third on Germany in RBI (one behind Hoffmann and Claus Helmig) and led in walks.

Schmid produced at a .385/.467/.462 clip in the 1969 European Championship with four runs and six RBI in four games. He led Germany in hits (5), tied for second in runs (one behind Hoffmann), led in RBI (two over Hubert Kohl), led the regulars in slugging and tied Karl Phillipp for the best OBP among the regulars. In the 1971 European Championship, his last Euros, he hit .318/.318/.318 with 6 runs and 5 RBI in five games and Germany won another Bronze. He was second on the team in hits (one behind Hoffmann), led in runs (one more than Hoffmann) and tied Hoffmann for the most RBI. He was 0 for 7 with two walks and five strikeouts in the 1972 Amateur World Series, Germany's first Amateur World Series appearance. He also played in the 1973 FEMBA Amateur World Series but statistics are unavailable.

Available stats show that Schmid hit .279/.393/.385 in 54 games for the national tea, with 31 runs and 23 RBI. He fielded .955. Through 2010, he was among the national team's career leaders in games played (7th), European Championships played in (11, 4th, behind the Helmig brothers and Hoffmann), RBI (tied for 10th with Jendrick Speer), runs (7th, between Jürgen Helmig and Hoffmann), walks (25, 3rd, behind Speer and Stephan Jäger), OBP (10th, between Sascha Lutz and Matthias Winterrath) and putouts (218, 2nd, 21 behind Simon Gühring). He also won on three Bundesliga champions.

He coached for Germany in the 1979 European Junior Championship.

In 2006, he was inducted into the German Baseball Hall of Fame, one of the first ten members.

Sources

• German Baseball and Softball Federation
• German Baseball Hall of Fame