page_title: Walter Alston
section_title: Brooklyn Dodgers
hierarchical_section_title: Walter Alston / Managerial career / Major leagues / Brooklyn Dodgers
caption_attribution_description: English: Brooklyn Dodgers manager Walter Alston with Philadelphia Phillies manager Mayo Smith before a game at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey. Edges cropped slightly. → This file has an extracted image: File:Mayo Smith 1957.png.
context_page_description: Walter Emmons Alston, nicknamed "Smokey", was an American baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball. 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."
  Alston grew up in rural Ohio and lettered in baseball and basketball at Miami University in Oxford.
  Though his MLB playing career consisted of only one game, two innings played, and one at-bat with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936, Alston spent 19 years in minor league baseball as a player, player-manager and non-playing manager. 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.
  As a major league manager, Alston led Dodger teams to seven National League pennants and four world championships.
context_section_description: Alston was named manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers for the 1954 season. His predecessor, Chuck Dressen, had moved on from the Dodgers after the team's leadership refused to sign him to a two-year or three-year contract. Dressen had won two pennants in three years and nearly won a third. 
  Dodgers executive Buzzie Bavasi fought for Alston to be hired in Brooklyn. Bringing Alston to Brooklyn has been described as Bavasi's biggest contribution to the team's history. Alston was an unknown at the major league level and the New York Daily News reported his hiring with the headline "Walter Who?"
  Becoming immediately known for his quiet nature, Alston was sometimes referred to as "The Quiet Man". Alston's personality contrasted with that of Dressen, who was much more outspoken. Sportswriters had difficulty writing about Alston at first because he did not say much. He also seemed more conservative in his decisions on the field, which drew criticism from his players even though he had managed many of them in the minor leagues. Don Zimmer said that he had learned more from Dressen and that Dressen knew more about baseball than Alston. Jackie Robinson did not like Alston at first either, according to Robinson's wife.
  Alston commented on his approach, saying, "I never criticized a player for a mistake on the spot. Whenever I got steamed up about something, I always wanted to sleep on it and face the situation with a clear head." Sportswriter Jim Murray said that Alston was "the only guy in the game who could look Billy Graham right in the face without blushing and who would order corn on the cob in a Paris restaurant." The 1954 Dodgers finished second in the NL as both Gil Hodges and Duke Snider hit at least 40 home runs and registered 130 runs batted in.
  Brooklyn got off to a strong start in 1955, but an Associated Press article noted that Alston was reticent in response to questions and that he did not seem like a manager who had won ten consecutive games. The Brooklyn Dodgers won the NL pennant and their only World Series championship. They clinched the pennant on September 8, earlier than any team had in NL history; at 92–46 (.667), the Dodgers were 17 games ahead of second place Milwaukee with 16 remaining. In the World Series, Johnny Podres, started two games (third and seventh); he had a mediocre 9–10 regular season record, but won both postseason starts. The pitcher had struggled with arm problems for much of the season.
  Sandy Koufax emerged as a pitcher for the Dodgers during that championship season. Alston was criticized by Jackie Robinson and others over his sparse use of Koufax in his early career. During Koufax's second MLB start, he pitched a shutout, giving up two hits and striking out 14 batters. However, that success did not prompt a lot of opportunities for Koufax. The pitcher appeared in only 12 games that season, mostly in relief.
  The 1956 team repeated as NL champions; the team was bolstered by the play of Duke Snider, who hit a league-leading 43 home runs and also led the league in walks. Despite winning the first two games of the World Series, the Dodgers lost in 7 games to the Yankees. The Dodgers fell to third place (84–70) in 1957, the final season in Brooklyn.
caption: Alston (left) with Phillies manager Mayo Smith in 1957
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