Walter Alston ✝

Walter Emmons Alston (December 1, 1911 – October 1, 1984), nicknamed "Smokey", was an American baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is best known for managing the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1954 through 1976, and signed 23 one-year contracts with the team. He had a calm, reticent demeanor, for which he was sometimes also known as "The Quiet Man."\n', ' Alston grew up in rural Ohio and lettered in baseball and basketball at Miami University in Oxford. \n', ' Though his MLB playing career consisted of only one game and one at-bat with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936, Alston spent 19 years in minor league baseball as a player (1935–1939 and 1943), player-manager (1940–1942 and 1944–1947) and non-playing manager (1948–1953). His service included a stint as skipper of the 1946 Nashua Dodgers, the first U.S.-based integrated professional team in modern baseball. He was promoted to manage the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954 after six successful seasons with Brooklyn\'s Triple-A teams, the St. Paul Saints and Montreal Royals.\n', '