Alston, Walter

Walter Alston, in full Walter Emmons Alston, byname Smokey, (born December 1, 1911, Venice, Ohio, U.S.—died October 1, 1984, Oxford, Ohio), professional National League baseball manager whose career with the Los Angeles (formerly Brooklyn) Dodgers was the third longest for managers, after Connie Mack and John McGraw.

Alston earned his nickname Smokey as a pitcher for his high-school team. At Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), he was a hard-hitting infielder. He was signed to a contract by the St. Louis Cardinals as a shortstop and played on their minor league teams (1935–40). He played just one game in the majors, striking out in his only at bat. He began managing in the minor leagues (1940–42) and in 1944 moved to the Dodgers’ organization as a minor league player-manager (1944–47) and manager thereafter until 1953, when he became the manager of their major league team. As minor league manager he developed Dodger talent such as Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella, Carl Erskine, and Junior Gilliam; thus, by the time he was moved to the majors, he had managed every player on his first 25-man roster. As a Dodgers manager he won seven pennants and four of the seven subsequent World Series. The 1955 World Series victory was the Dodgers’ first.

Alston retired after the 1976 season. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.