From This Week in 1960s Baseball …
(October 19, 1964) The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced that former major league outfielder Harry “The Hat” Walker had been named to replace Danny Murtaugh as Pirates’ manager for the 1965 season.
Murtaugh, who had been the Pirates’ manager for 8 seasons, was leaving the helm for health reasons. Under his guidance, the team finished in sixth place in 1964 with an 80-82 record. Murtaugh was the manager when the team won the 1960 World Series championship, beating the New York Yankees in 7 games.
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| Harry Walker |
This would be Walker’s second tour as a major league manager. He was an interim manager for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1955. The team was 51-67 under Walker’s leadership. He was replaced at the end of the season by Fred Hutchinson.
Walker spent the next 10 years as a coach for the Cardinals and managing in their minor league system. In his first 2 seasons with the Pirates, Walker led the Bucs to consecutive third-place finishes, winning 90 and 92 games respectively. In 1967, with the Pirates in sixth place with a 42-42 record, Walker was dismissed and replaced by Murtaugh. In 1968 he replaced Grady Hatton as manager of the Houston Astros and managed that team for 5 seasons.
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| Danny Murtaugh |
Walker played 11 seasons in the National League. He broke in with the Cardinals in 1940 and won the National League batting title in 1947 with a .363 batting average. He also led the league with 16 triples that season. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubsand Cincinnati Reds, batting .296 for his career.
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