Walter Alston
As a player
- St. Louis Cardinals (1936 )
As a manager
- Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers (1954-1976)
- 4 × World Series champion (1955, 1959, 1963, 1965)
- No longer assigned number 24 with the Dodgers.
Walter Emmons Alston ( born December 1, 1911 in Venice, Ohio; † October 1, 1984 in Oxford, Ohio) was an American baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball. His nickname was Smokey.
Biography
Walter Alston played most of his playing career in the minor leagues. His only game in the National League, he played on 27 September 1936 for the St. Louis Cardinals. In this game, he came as a substitute for Johnny Mize used because it had been dismissed. Even as a player, he took over at Portsmouth in the Mid- Atlantic League in 1940 and the post of manager. In 1944, he came as a minor league manager in the organization of the Brooklyn Dodgers, in which he should be 33 years active. On November 24, 1953 he was appointed Walter O'Malley to the manager of the Dodgers. Alston broke Charlie Dressen from, who had called for a multi-year contract, which at the time was considered taboo at the Dodgers. Alston worked until 1976, with 24 one-year contracts. Under the direction of Alston, the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955 managed their only victory in the World Series. The following year he won with his team the title in the National League. After moving the Dodgers to Los Angeles he worked with players like Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Maurey Wills, with whom he four championships in the National League from 1959 - reached in 1966. 1963 and 1965 was followed by other victories in the World Series. The last great team of Walter Alston was occupied with players like Steve Garvey, Dave Lopes and Ron Cey. With them reached Alston 1974 his last World Series, in which the Dodgers to the Oakland Athletics smooth subject in five games.
His last game as manager was on 27 September 1976, a 0-1 defeat against the Houston Astros. Since June 5, 1977, the Dodgers Alston no longer assigned shirt number 24. Alston ended his career with 2048 wins in 23 years with the Dodgers. In 1983, he became the first manager of the 1970s by the Veterans Committee in the Baseball Hall of Fame. A year later, Alston died at the age of 72 years.