Walter Kirby Higbe (April 8, 1915 – May 6, 1985) was an American right-handed starting pitcher in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) from 1937 to 1950. Best known for his time with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was a two-time

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

(NL) All-Star.

Early baseball career

Higbe was born in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-largest ...

, in 1915."Kirby Higbe Stats"
baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 6, 2021. A hard thrower, he played mostly in the minor leagues from 1933 to 1938. In 1937, with the

Moline Plowboys The Moline Plowboys was a primary name of the minor league baseball teams based in Moline, Illinois, one of the Quad Cities. Moline teams played as members the 1892 Illinois-Iowa League, 1894 Western Association, the Mississippi Valley League ( ...

of the

Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League The Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League was a Minor League Baseball organization that operated for the better part of 60 seasons, with teams based in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The league began pla ...

, Higbe had a 21–5 record and led the league in wins. He also had short stints with the NL's Chicago Cubs in 1937 and 1938. In May 1939, the Cubs traded Higbe to the Philadelphia Phillies. He finally stuck in the majors, and in 1940, he went 14–19 with a 3.72

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA), led the NL with 137 strikeouts, and was named an All-Star.

Brooklyn Dodgers

In November 1940, the Phillies traded Higbe to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Bill Crouch, Mickey Livingston, Vito Tamulis, and $100,000. Higbe had his most successful season in 1941, going 22–9 with a 3.14 ERA and 121 strikeouts. He tied his teammate

Whit Wyatt John Whitlow Wyatt (September 27, 1907 – July 16, 1999) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played all or part of sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers (1929–33), Chicago White Sox (1933–36), Clevela ...

for the league-lead in wins and finished seventh in the

NL MVP The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' ...

voting as the Dodgers won the pennant. In the 1941 World Series, Higbe started one game but did not get a decision, and the Dodgers lost the series to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

. Higbe went 16–11 in 1942 and then went 13–10 in 1943. After the 1943 season, he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Initially assigned to the

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear rec ...

, he soon received training as a rifleman and saw combat in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 1945, Higbe and his fellow soldiers went to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

; however, when they arrived there, they learned that Japan had surrendered. Nonetheless, he stayed in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

until March 1946, at which point he finally returned to the United States. Back with the Dodgers for the 1946 season, Higbe went 17–8 with a 3.03 ERA and 134 strikeouts. He was named an All-Star for the second time. He began the 1947 season with a 2–0 record for the eventual NL champion Dodgers, but he insisted upon being traded when Brooklyn added Jackie Robinson to the team as the first black major leaguer in the 20th century. According to Higbe, the Dodger players who were opposed to having Robinson on the team "didn't have anything personal against Jackie Robinson or any other Negro ... but we were Southerners who had never lived or played with Negroes, and we didn't see any reason to start then."

Later baseball career

The Dodgers traded Higbe to the Pittsburgh Pirates in May 1947. He played for the Pirates and the New York Giants from 1947 to 1950. He then went back to the minor leagues, where he played until 1953. Higbe finished his MLB career with a 118–101 record, a 3.69 ERA, 971 strikeouts, and a 102 ERA+.

Later life

After his baseball career ended, Higbe drifted from job to job, getting in trouble with the law multiple times. He published an autobiography, ''The High Hard One'', in 1967. Higbe died in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1985 at the age of 70. In the 2013 film '' 42'', he was portrayed by

Brad Beyer Brad Beyer (born September 20, 1973) is an American actor. He may be best-known for his role in the CBS series '' Jericho'', playing Stanley Richmond. Early and personal life Beyer was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Catho ...

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