Neil Walker receives top American Legion baseball award
Before he was a first- round pick in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, before he became a hometown darling playing for the Pirates and before a decade spent in the major leagues, Neil Walker was like a lot of young players who competed for an American Legion baseball team.
Just like when he was an amateur player, Walker once again finds himself in rarefied air after being named the 2019 American Legion Graduate of the Year.
The honor goes back to 1958 and has been awarded to a who’s who of Hall of Famers and surefire locks for the Hall. Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Carl Yastrzemski, Don Mattingly, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Tony Gwynn, Chipper Jones and Justin Verlander are just a few of the names on the list.
Walker has accomplished much in his career, but his most recent award might be his most cherished yet.
“It’s very humbling because a lot of the names on that list are really, really great ballplayers,” said Walker, a Pine- Richland graduate. “This is as good an award as I can get.”
Walker is currently a member of the Miami Marlins. He was drafted by Pittsburgh with the 11th pick in 2004 and played for the Pirates from 2009- 15. He was traded to the New York Mets and also has played for the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers.
Walker will eventually be honored before a game, but has yet to settle on a date. With the uncertainty of the July 31 trade deadline looming, it will happen later in the summer. If Walker is still a member of the Marlins for the second half of the season, he noted that Miami makes a stop in Pittsburgh for a three- game series Sept. 3- 5 and that may be a good time for it.
According to the American Legion website, the award, “honors a former American Legion baseball player who is currently playing in the Major Leagues for his character, leadership, playing abilities and community service.”
Bob Schleiden, the coach of
Richland Post 548 in Gibsonia, nominated Walker for the award. Schleiden also nominated his former star in 2018, but Walker ended up finishing second in the voting that year.
Playing American Legion baseball was part of what catapulted Walker to a higher echelon. In 2002, Walker played in the American Legion western all- star game and was named MVP.
“That was when the Pirates got their first good look at him,” said Schleiden. “From that point on, he was being watched by the Pirates.”
The stories about Walker’s exploits as a player abound. Once, during a game at Springdale, the switch- hitter sent a shot over the fence and onto an adjacent football field. Schleiden had a measuring tape on him that day and said the ball traveled 427 feet.
The Graduate of the Year is about more than just baseball prowess. It also focuses on community service. Throughout the years, Walker has volunteered his time to veterans’ causes, children’s hospital patients and animal shelters.
Schleiden is a veteran and his two sons, Ryan and Derek, each played with Walker prior to joining the Air Force. After each returned home from tours of duty in the Middle East, Walker invited them onto the field prior to a game and caught up with them before batting practice.
Neil’s father, Tom Walker, recalls being stopped in a Wexford grocery store and being relayed a story about Neil showing up by himself to visit a child battling cancer at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He didn’t tell anyone he was going.
“I only know from somebody retelling the story,” said Tom Walker, a former major league pitcher who played American Legion ball himself while growing up in Florida.
“He doesn’t do this to get attention. He really has a servant’s heart.”