Walter Franklin Bond was born October 19, 1937 in Denmark Tennessee.
Many viewed the gigantic 6’7″ 235-lb Bond as a younger Willie McCovey. He led the Colt .45′s with 20 home runs in 1964, and was the only Houston player to have a multi-homer game. He accomplished the feat twice.
Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 39 of the 2009 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 3 week of September.
September 19
1962 Cleveland’s Walt Bond hits two home runs and drives in six runs as the Indians defeat the Athletics, 10-9. This game would be the start of one of baseball’s most impressive September performances, or in the words of Bill James, “Of all of the thousands of players who have been called up late in the season and given a brief chance to show what they can do, probably the most impressive argument was made by a giant named Walter Franklin Bond in September of 1962.”
Walter Franklin Bond was born October 19, 1937 in Denmark Tennessee.
Many viewed the gigantic 6’7″ 235-lb Bond as a younger Willie McCovey. He led the Colt .45′s with 20 home runs in 1964, and was the only Houston player to have a multi-homer game. He accomplished the feat twice. However, Walt was one of the Houston players most affected by the move into the Astrodome. His power stroke stayed behind at Colt Stadium or was it something else?
Bond began his major league career in 1960 with a couple of nondescript stints with the Indians. The Indians decided leave him for a full minor league season in 1962. As a spotlight article on Bond by the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame stated:
Big Walt took it all in stride and waited for his opportunity. He never complained but a stint in the Army was to change his life in more ways than he could ever know for it was in the Army that Walt was first diagnosed with leukemia. Not being the type of person to let it get to him, all Walt could think of was finishing his required stint with the Army and returning to the Cleveland Indians. Worrying that the other players had a step on him Walter trained vigorously to get back in shape.
1962 was a disastrous season in Cleveland. By August, the team could not hit and was hopelessly out of contention. In mid-September, the Indians called on Bond who provided one of the more memorable “cup of coffee” stints with a major league club. Bond was only 1-for-8 in his first two games, but then hit two homers and drove in six runs in his third, a 10-9 victory in Kansas City. Bond continued this hot streak until season’s end. In 12 games, Bond batted .380 with six homers and 17 Runs Batted In.
Yet when the 1963 season began, Bond was in Jacksonville, Fla., home of the Indians’ AAA farm club. Despite Bond’s heroics last September, Indians General Manager Gabe Paul was apparently not that impressed with Bond as he traded for two first basemen, Joe Adcock and Fred Whitfield, during the season. Even more curious, Paul purchased outfielder Ellis Burton from Houston who was not only older than Bond but was joining his sixth organization yet had amassed only 58 major-league at bats in that time. As the 1963 season closed, Walt Bond, who led the Jacksonville Suns with 25 home runs and 82 Runs Batted In, was not invited for a September call-up. Three months later, the Indians sold Bond to Houston.
Bond thrived in the middle of a light-hitting Houston lineup. His 20 home runs and 85 Runs Batted In not only led the team, but Bond appeared to be the tonic for what Houston had been lacking since its entry into the league: run-producing power at the cleanup spot. But if it wasn’t for bad luck, Bond wouldn’t have any luck at all. As Bill James stated in his Historical Baseball Abstract:
He finally got a chance to play, with Houston in 1964, in the worst hitters’ park in baseball, and when he seemed in danger of succeeding anyway, they built a park that was even tougher.
By the end of June, 1965, Bond had a .270 average but the power had disappeared, only 4 home runs. The Astros traded for Jim Gentile which moved Bond to the outfield. But with Lee Maye in left, Jimmy Wynn in center, and Rusty Staub in right, Bond found himself squeezed out. By the end of the season, Paul Richards, who was instrumental in bringing Bond to Houston, had left the club, and his replacement, Tal Smith, traded Bond to Minnesota on the eve of the 1966 season.
Bond again found himself in Triple-A. This time in Denver, home of the Twins’ affiliate. He posted impressive numbers with the Bears: .316 average, 18 Home Runs, and 74 Runs Batted In. In 1967, Bond made the Twins’ varsity out of spring training as a pinch-hitter, but was released when rosters were reduced in early May. Bond was surprised by the move as he had batted .313 with five Runs Batted In in 16 at-bats. He had homered to help win a game against Detroit in April. “For once in my life, I feel I did the job I was asked to do,” said Bond. “Why? What did I do? What do they expect?” Bond asked manager Sam Mele, and the manager answered that the Twins kept Sandy Valdespino instead because Sandy can do more things well. “I asked Bond if he could throw, run or play defense as well as Valdespino, and Bond answered, ‘No.’,” explained Mele.
Walt would be faced with bigger issues. The cancer that had been in remission reemerged. Bond hooked on with a second tour of duty with the Jacksonville Suns, now in the Mets’ organization, but only played in three games. He managed three hits in those games, including his last home run. Walt returned to Houston for treatment. The leukemia finally began to take its toll on the big man. Tragically, Walt Bond died on September 14, 1967 in Houston, Texas, less than a month from his thirtieth birthday.
Former Colt .45 team physician, Dr. Hatch Cummings, wrote to The Houston Post upon Bond’s passing:
Walter Bond died today and I am sad because I have lost a friend and a patient. During the several years that I have known Walter, I have liked him as a person and respected him as a man. It has been my sad duty to stand by-and help when I could-while a strong proud man succumbed to a relentless disease…. He (Walter) showed the strength of character and will that only champions possess. It was an exhibition of courage, and in the best tradition of baseball.
How sad it is to think a person started the spring in the major leagues, and by autumn, he was dead. The story of Walt Bond is sad and tragic, yet also inspiring. He apparently knew his time on this Earth was limited by his leukemia diagnosis years early, yet Walt continued to live his life.
For the first time since I started BHP, over 3 years ago, I have recorded a player biography that was submitted by a listener.
A couple of months ago I received an email from listener, Jimmy Moore. Here is what Jimmy had to say in that original email:
Bob, I enjoy your podcasts. I’ve downloaded them off iTunes for the past two years, and they have made a commute even in Atlanta traffic enjoyable.
One of my hobbies is to replay and relive past baseball seasons using computer simulation software. My current replay is of the 1967 season using Diamond Mind Baseball, and the accompanying web site is diamond-replays.com/dmb. During the course of these replays, I learn about events that occurred and players that played before I was born or when I was a child. One such player was Walt Bond. His is a rather sad yet inspiring story, and I am sure that most baseball fans, like myself, are not aware of Walt’s story. I have an entry on my blog at blog.diamond-replays.com about Walt Bond, and I think he would make an interesting subject for your podcast.
I emailed back to Jimmy asking if he would like for me to use his blog post for an upcoming BHP. I told him that if he did, he would need to give me a TWIBH as a lead in. That’s where Jimmy came up with the September 19, 1962 story.
I’ve been holding on to this story just waiting for that date to come around.
Jimmy started his bio with the following statement:
When I started my 1965 replay, the starting first baseman in Houston was Walt Bond, a 6’7″, 228 pound hulk. The hobby of replaying baseball games may seem trivial to some, but without it, I would have missed the story of Walt Bond.
Jimmy asked me to please attribute the bio to his two main sources:
(1) A February 13, 2007 Hardball Times article by Steve Treder
(2) A story written by James Anderson posted on the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame site
Jimmy also said:
Some of my article may be verbatim from those two articles. Now that I’ve learned my article will have a larger audience, I added some information about Walt’s release by Minnesota from the May 27, 1967 edition of The Sporting News.
Jimmy concluded by saying:
For a more in-depth article and one of my sources, please read:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/walt-bond/
Jimmy Moore’s blog site is called:
A Second Time Through the Order – Classic Baseball Seasons Relived
The site can be found at:
http://blog.diamond-replays.com/
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: A
A Second Time Through the Order – Classic Baseball Seasons Relived
In this double play, the blog site can be found at:
http://blog.diamond-replays.com/
Check it out!
If you would like to a part of Baseball History Podcast, submit your written contribution for the tour segment. I will only be doing the tour when one is sent in by a listener. You can do the segment on any stadium or team; past or present; Minor League, Major League, Negro League or any league outside of the US. Write about 1 page in a conversational tone, send it to me, I will record it, and you will get the credit.
You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com.
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Look for the new BHP web site at Baseball History Podcast at baseballhistorypodcast.com.
Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
