Walter Franklin Bond (October 19, 1937 – September 14, 1967) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player who appeared in 365 games over six

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), ...

seasons between and for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

, Houston Colt .45s/Astros and

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

. An

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

, he played the last five seasons of his 11-year professional career after being diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

while serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in 1962. The disease eventually took Bond's life in the closing weeks of the baseball season — a year during which he had made the Twins' roster coming out of

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

. The native of

Denmark, Tennessee Denmark is an unincorporated community and former city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States roughly 14 miles southwest of Jackson. The zip code is 38391. Although it was once a thriving farming community, a combination of man-made and nat ...

, attended

Lane College Lane College is a private historically black college associated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and located in Jackson, Tennessee. It offers associate and baccalaureate degrees in the arts and sciences. History Lane College was f ...

; he stood tall and weighed , threw right-handed and batted left-handed. With his imposing size, he was an effective power hitter who also batted for

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

(.299) during his minor league career, and brief

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

career with the

Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 19 ...

. In 1962, the year of his diagnosis, Bond batted .320 in 132 games for the

Salt Lake City Bees The Salt Lake City Bees was a primary moniker of the minor league baseball teams, based in Salt Lake City, Utah between 1911 and 1970 under various names. After minor league baseball first began in Salt Lake City in 1900, the Bees were long-time ...

of the Triple-A

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

.Minor league statistics
from

Baseball Reference Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

Then, in a 12-game September stint with the Indians, Bond hit six

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in only 50

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

, drove in 17 runs, batted .380 and slugged .800. Yet he could not make the 1963 Indians roster and spent that campaign in Triple-A. On December 19, 1963, he was acquired by Houston. The Colt .45s'

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, Paul Richards, was aware of Bond's illness, but the team doctor examined Bond and determined that his leukemia was in remission. Bond then turned in his best Major League season as the starting first baseman for the 1964 Colt .45s, leading Houston in home runs (20) and runs batted in (85), and appearing in 148 games. The following year, Bond held onto his starting job, but his production slumped with the team's move into the

Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...

; some teammates later speculated that his leukemia had recurred that season, affecting his play. Sent to the Twins just before the season, he returned to Triple-A and batted .316 with 18 home runs in 122 games for the

Denver Bears Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, earning an invitation to spring training for 1967. Bond made the team and batted .313 in part-time duty during the season's first month. His five hits included a two-run,

pinch-hit In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

home run off 20-game-winner Earl Wilson of the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

on April 23. But the Twins released him on May 15, and although Bond caught on with the Triple-A

Jacksonville Suns The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in the area. The team pla ...

, his declining health forced him to the sidelines after only three games. He entered a

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

hospital for treatment, but died there at age 29 on September 14, 1967.Walt Bond dies at 29
/ref> Said his physician, Dr. Hatch Cummings: "He showed the strength of character and will that only champions possess. It was an exhibition of courage, and in the best tradition of baseball." Among Bond's 307 big-league hits were 40 doubles, 11 triples and 41 homers. He was credited with 179 runs batted in.

References

External links

*Anderson, Jame
''Walter Bond: A Ballplayer Who Was Big in Stature and Big of Heart''
Astros Daily {{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Walt 1937 births 1967 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Nicaragua Baseball players from Tennessee Burlington Indians players (1958–1964) Cleveland Indians players Cocoa Indians players Deaths from cancer in Texas Deaths from leukemia Denver Bears players Houston Astros players Houston Colt .45s players Jacksonville Suns players Kansas City Monarchs players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Minnesota Twins players People from Madison County, Tennessee Reading Indians players Salt Lake City Bees players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Vancouver Mounties players

See also

References

External links