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Baseball's Forgotten Players: Walt Bond
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Walter Franklin Bond
Bats Left, Throws Right
Height: 6' 7", Weight 228 lb.
School: Lane College
Debut:April 19, 1960
Final Game: May 7, 1967
Born October 19, 1937 in Denmark, TN
Died September 14, 1967 in Houston, TX
Walt Bond was born on October 19th in Denmark, Tennessee, a rural area in the western part of the state between Brownsville and Jackson, an area known for cotton farming. Bond excelled at all sports with his favorite being basketball. His journey into professional baseball began in the mid '50's with the legendary Kansas City Monarchs during the dying days of the Negro Leagues. With his play catching the eye of Major League scouts, Bond signed with the Cleveland Indians in early 1957, at the age of 19. He spent his first two seasons struggling with off the field racial issues in the deep south, yet managed to perform well on the field. A strong season in the Double A Eastern League in 1959 earned him a spot on Cleveland's opening day roster in 1960. At the time, Bond was mentioned as a bigger, stronger and faster version of the National League's 1959 Rookie of the Year, Willie McCovey. Bond had a smooth, lefty, line drive swing with good power potential, a strong but erratic throwing arm, and a bonus for a man his size, good speed.
Bond played pretty well during his first experience in the big leagues, hitting three homers in the seasons first three weeks, but soon fell into a slump and found himself back in the minor leagues in June. Bond bounced back and forth between Triple A and the majors for the balance of the next two and a half seasons, playing extremely well in the minors but not quite well enough to land regular playing time in the big leagues.
Bond made his first ML appearance of 1962 pm September 16th, and over the next two games managed just an infield single in eight at bats as the Indians extended their losing streak to five games. On September 19th, however, Bond finally showed a glimpse of the power everyone had expected of him, but had not been visible as yet. Against Kansas City Athletics righthander Ed Rakow, Bond, hitting fourth, and catcher Ed Romano twice hit back to back homers in a 10-9 Indians victory. For the afternoon, Bond was 3-4 with two homers, a double, three runs scored and six RBI's. (Romano was 3-4, also with the two homers and a double, with four RBI and two runs scored). The following day, again hitting clean-up, Bond turned in a 3-5 performance, and homered again the next day, sparking the Indians to a three game sweep in Kansas City.
Bond spent the entire 1963 season in the minor leagues, following the season was sold to the Houston Colt 45's. Houston gave him his first chance as a regular, splitting equal time between first base (76 games) and the outfield (71 games). Bond led the Colts in runs, triples, homers and RBI's, and was second in hits, and walks. At the age of 26, Bond helped bridge the gap between the Colts older, veteran stars, (Nellie Fox, 36, Don Larsen, 34), and an up and coming group of youngsters such as Jimmy Wynn, Joe Morgan and Rusty Staub, (both 20).
Bond played well again for the Colts in 1965, playing 107 games and hitting .263. Although his power was down with just seven homers, he had more doubles and walks in 41 fewer games, and turned in a higher on base percentage.
On April 10th, 1966, Bond was traded to the defending American League Champion Minnesota Twins and was sent to their Jacksonville team in the International League. Bond struggled in the minor leagues, so much so the Twins were forced to place him on the inactive list.
Reporting to spring training in 1967, Bond still showed signs of lethargy, and underwent a series of tests. Several years before, Bond had been diagnosed with leukemia, after treatment the disease went into remission where it had remained. The new series of tests revealed the leukemia had returned. While undergoing treatment in Minnesota, the Twins kept Bond on the active roster, and playing primarily as a pinch hitter, went 5-16 with a homer and five RBI. With the treatment sapping his strength, Bond was no longer able to play, and despite appearing in three minor league games in the middle of the year, he faded fast, and died on September 14th, 1967 at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, five weeks before his 30th birthday.
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