Bernie Walter was essentially the "Moonlight Graham" of pitchers. In his major league career, he pitched in 1 game, 1 inning and he struck out 1 for the Pirates. He likely spent the remainder of his days (he died in 1988) telling folks how he once pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates and struck out the great Brooklyn Robins SS Glenn Wright. That was it for Bernie's Cup of Coffee in real life. In SPB, Bernie would get once chance as well, this time for the Brooklyn Knights. This time, Bernie was brought in in the 7th inning of a game against the San Diego Glaziers, tied at 6-6. He made his debut in a tough spot, with his team just having blown a 3 run lead and his predecessor leaving him runners in 1st and 3rd with two outs. Bernie delivered in the clutch, getting SS Bill Cissell to fly out and preserving the tie. Bernie got his 1st at bat (something he never got to do in real life n the bottom of the 7th, and had a successful sacrifice bunt, but his team failed to take advantage and the score remain tied. Bernie came back out for the 8th and mowed down the Glaziers again, the only runner reaching on an error by Jake Flowers. The Knights got runners on again in the 8th, and Bernie sat on the bench dreaming of getting his 1st big league win, but once again despite 2 runners on and 1 out, the Knights failed to score, and it was still tied going into the 9th. Once again, Bernie Walter came back out to pitch, and once again, Bernie got them out, with another 1-2-3 inning, as the game headed to the bottom of the 9th tied. Bernie was in the on deck circle when backup catcher Casey Wise grounded out. He fully expected to get called back for a pinch hitter. To his surprise, manager Honus Wagner decided to let him take his second swing. In Honus' words after the game "The kids was pitching lights out, so I wanted to keep him throwin." So Bernie stepped in against Jesse Petty. On Petty's first pitch, Bernie took the swing of his life, launching a walk off solo home run to left field, delivering his 1st and only Hit, Home Run, RBI and his 1st and only Big League Win with one glorious swing of his bat (in what tuned out to be is only official AB since the other was a sacrifice). Bernie SPB career is now over, but he would have certainly had a lot more to tell his grandkids about after a game like this one. The Glory of Bernie's Times.....for one game at least. What a game it was..... 9/3/1930, SDG30-KNI30, game 2, Ebbets Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1930 Glaziers 0 1 0 2 0 0 3 0 0 6 11 2 9 1 1930 Knights 0 0 0 1 3 2 0 0 1 7 14 2 13 0 Glaziers AB R H BI AVG Knights AB R H BI AVG Todt lf 5 0 1 0 .216 Flowers 2b 4 1 2 0 .361 Flagstead cf 3 1 0 0 .253 Traynor 3b 4 0 2 0 .349 Gullic rf 4 1 1 0 .254 Terry 1b 3 1 1 1 .408 Mancuso ph 1 0 0 0 .347 Wilson cf 4 1 1 3 .320 Cramer rf 0 0 0 0 .273 Goslin lf 5 1 1 1 .320 Narleski 3b 5 1 1 3 .230 Lazzeri ss 4 0 2 0 .296 James 2b 5 0 1 0 .244 Stone rf 4 0 1 0 .308 Suhr 1b 5 1 3 0 .299 Tate c 1 0 0 0 .294 Smith c 2 0 0 0 .100 Puccinelli ph 1 0 0 0 .500 Cissell ss 4 1 3 1 .241 Wise c 3 1 2 0 .667 Wyatt p 3 1 1 2 .455 Elliott p 2 0 0 0 .085 Dudley p 1 0 0 0 .042 Mosolf ph 1 1 1 0 .333 Petty p 0 0 0 0 .178 Henderson p 0 0 0 0 .000 38 6 11 6 Walter p 1 1 1 1 1.000 37 7 14 6 Glaziers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Wyatt 5.2 9 6 5 5 3 115 68 4.68 Dudley 1.1 3 0 0 0 0 17 11 7.23 Petty L 6-11 1.1 2 1 1 1 0 13 8 7.27 8.1 14 7 6 6 3 145 87 Knights INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Elliott 6.0 8 3 3 2 0 90 52 4.29 Henderson BS 1 0.2 3 3 3 2 0 23 13 40.50 Walter W 1-0 2.1 0 0 0 0 0 34 23 0.00 9.0 11 6 6 4 0 147 88 SDG: Mancuso batted for Gullic in the 8th Cramer inserted at rf in the 8th KNI: Puccinelli batted for Tate in the 4th Wise inserted at c in the 5th Mosolf batted for Elliott in the 6th E-Narleski, Cissell, Flowers, Traynor. 2B-Todt(7), Suhr(27), Flowers 2(11), Lazzeri(29). 3B-Suhr(10). HR-Narleski(2), Wyatt(2), Wilson(49), Goslin(37), Walter(1). RBI-Narleski 3(19), Cissell(61), Wyatt 2(4), Terry(135), Wilson 3(155), Goslin(129), Walter(1). CS-Suhr. K-Traynor, Wilson, Elliott. BB-Flagstead 2, Smith 2, Flowers, Traynor, Terry, Wilson, Lazzeri, Stone. SH-Walter. SF-Terry. SPB-X Reaction: Marc H: Now Bernie Walters will live on in SPB Folklore! Wow, what a story, thanks for sharing. I can just imagine you jumping out of your chair when he hit that majestic Home run! Dave L: Great write-up, Mike. Being such a "little ball" fan, this story is right up my alley. In SPB2 (1968), I am enjoying playing out Eddie Mathews' last year. He hit .212 with only 57 PAs, and most owners would have farmed and forgotten him. Not me. Thus far, he's used 66 of his 157 PAs, splitting his paying time between 3B and 1B, hitting .290 (he went into an 0-for-10 slump recently. I will play him his 157 PAs - then make him my manager! Joe D: That is probably the most incredible (and greatest) SPB story of all time! I love it. Don R: Bernie, Bernie, Bernie. Feeling the Bern, Mike? LOL Gary P: And so Bernie Walter, at only 21 years old, becomes an SPB folklore legend. *:-O surprise Who would'a thunk it?? John U: Great writeup! John T: Sounds like one for the archives! Rich A: Bernie could now be resigned to a 10 yr contract for about 150 million. Thanks Mike! Mike S: Thanks Guys! Bernie announced his retirement from SPB this morning and will now become the youngest pitching coach in the history of SPB! LOL! Of all the thing I have done in SPB, this was truly one of the most shocking and cool things I had ever seen. Thanks for letting me share.... Dave L: Welcome to the fun and exciting world of "little Ball."!!!! Mike S: The really interesting thing about Bernie is that he never even pitched a game in the minors. He was the Pirates Batting Practice pitcher (with them for the entire 1930 season) and was as forced into a game due to injury. This was literally the only time the man ever got into a game. I'd love to find out what he did after baseball....perhaps I will......he's a SABR Bio project waiting to happen for me..... Bernie Walter (1908) Pitcher for the Pirates on August 16,1930. Just one day after his 22nd birthday, Bernie Walter played his only game of pro ball. The story of his one game is an odd one. Walter was with the Pirates during the entire 1930 season, since day one of Spring Training, yet he pitched just one inning all year. He had attended the University of Tennessee just prior to joining the Pirates. Pittsburgh used him often during the 1930 season, but that was as a batting practice pitcher. On August 16,1930 they played a doubleheader and two of their top pitchers, Larry French and Erv Brame, were unable to pitch. In stepped a rookie named Charles “Spades” Wood to start game one and he threw eight innings, allowing seven runs on nine walks and eight hits. He was pinch hit for in the eighth and with a near empty bench, manager Jewel Ens went to his batting practice pitcher to throw the last inning. Walter ended up setting the side down in order, recording a strikeout. The pitching staff was soon healthy and new recruits were soon brought in to help out, ending the career of Walter with one inning pitched and a 0.00 ERA. It literally was the whole career for him, as he never played in the minors. Dave L: Charles "Spades" Wood, East Kenosha Leopards. He has now started 7 games for me, the same as his major league total for 1930. He was 4-3 for Pittsburgh, and is 4-2 for my team. 4 CG for the Pirates, 3 for me. He has the same problem in DMB as in real life: home plate moves around a lot! 7 HRs in 7 starts, 36 walks in 56 IP. 1/13/1909: Charles “Spades” Wood was born in Spartanburg SC. The lefty twirled for two years in Pittsburgh, from 1930-31, mostly as a starter, and went 6-9, 5.61. He had a little problem with the strike zone, walking 78 in 122 IP while fanning just 56. JC Bradbury of SABR explained his moniker: “Wood earned his nickname from a 13 spades bridge hand he was dealt on a Sunday, which resulted in his expulsion (from his school, Wofford College) - playing bridge on Sunday was not allowed.” Unlike Walter, Spades comes back in 1931 to pitch even worse than he did in 1930 - which means he may be in my starting rotation! Terry B: Bernie Walters is one of the reasons I enjoy these games. There is always the unexpected hero waiting just around the corner.