Walter Alston’s Personal 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers Team Panoramic Photograph
Walter Emmons Alston, known as “Smokey” because of his fastball when he pitched in high school, was born in Venice, Ohio, on Dec. 1, 1911, the son of a farmer who had played semipro ball. He graduated from Darrtown High School in 1929 and from Miami (Ohio) University in 1935. He majored in industrial arts and physical education and played on the baseball and basketball teams. Meeting college costs was difficult.
''I put myself through college playing pool,'' he once said.
Alston signed with the St. Louis Cardinal organization after his graduation and bounced through the minors as a first baseman for 12 years, doubling as a manager from 1940 until he gave up playing in 1947 to concentrate solely on managing. He played only one game in the majors, striking out in his only time at bat with the Cardinals. A shoulder injury suffered in a fight with the catcher Sal Yvars in 1947 hastened the end of his playing days.
When Walter Alston was named by Walter O'Malley to manage the Brooklyn Dodgers on Nov. 24, 1953, the headlines on one New York newspaper the next day read: ''Alston (Who's He?) New Dodger Manager.'' And a sportswriter explained: ''The Dodgers do not need a manager, and that is why they got Alston.''
But the quiet, plodding former farmer and schoolteacher went on to become one of the game’s most respected managers. Signing only one-year contracts, he had a tenure with the team that was exceeded only by Connie Mack's 50 years with the Philadelphia Athletics and John McGraw's 31 with the New York Giants.
Under Alston, the Dodgers of Brooklyn and then Los Angeles won seven National League pennants and four World Series championships in 1955, 1959, 1963 and 1965. In 1983 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The intrinsic appeal of the offered item needs little embellishment. It is, after all, a spectacular 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers team panoramic photograph, spanning 48-inches (four feet!) in nearly flawless condition. Jackie, Duke, Campy, Pee Wee and company are all here, along with their first-year skipper Alston, addressing the camera against a majestic Ebbets Field backdrop. Even the smallest details are crisply rendered, presenting a windowlike visage. Captions in white provide the essentials: team, year, photography studio ("Verna"), etc. Such photos of the Jackie Robinson-era Brooklyn Dodgers are very scarce, with most of the few examples seen in the marketplace having emerged from team sources, as is the case here. These photos were almost certainly not produced for commercial consumption, hence their rarity today.
The photo’s physical attributes aside, its soul is its provenance. This was Alston’s own keepsake. It hung in the billiard room of his Darrtown, Ohio home for decades, until it was removed personally by LSC proprietor Dan Imler in 2015 in preparation for the Auction of the Walter Alton Estate Collection. Alston’s billiard room was his preferred refuge in the little downtime he enjoyed during his career and more so in his retirement. It is a romantic, yet nonetheless real notion, that this photo was a specific point of pride for Alston, a reminder of the start of his big-league managing career and the team he inherited. Not the least bit ironic is its former position adjacent to Alston’s pool table, further symbolizing the totality of his journey.
Includes a LOA from the Alston Family.
