Jim Walewander

James Walewander (born May 2, 1962, in Chicago, Illinois) was a Major League Baseball infielder. He is an alumnus of Iowa State University. Drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 9th round of the 1983 MLB amateur draft, Walewander was notoriously a fan of the Dead Milkmen, endearing himself to Tiger faithful. The punk rockers were even in the ballpark when Walewander hit his only major-league home run.

Walewander even had a "theme song" written about him called "The Jim Walewander Blues".The song's lyrics were included with an interview of Jim in Sports Illustrated. The song was written by a local Detroit fan named eastside billee (aka billee) who recorded it with hisband "The Ten Speeds". The song got radio airplay in the Lakeland Flordia area during springtraining one year. Ernie Harwell even gave a Detroit newspaper review of the song in an articlewritten by Shelby Strothers. The song was also mentioned in a Sports Illustrated article regardingJim Walewander.

Walewander's rise through the minors was delayed by the presence of Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, but he was finally summoned to Detroit on May 31, 1987, going 1 for 2 against the Minnesota Twins. Walewander primarily appeared as a defensive substitute or pinch-runner in the late innings. He was a key figure as the Tigers battled the Toronto Blue Jays for the division crown. In the 12th inning of one late September game, with a Tiger loss meaning elimination from the division race, pinch-hitter Walewander scooted home with the game-winning run after Toronto shortstop Manuel Lee made an error. Frank Tanana pitched a 1-0 shutout the next day, handing Detroit the division title. Walewander was not on the playoff roster, and Minnesota defeated Tigers in the ALCS.

Being a big-leaguer had it perks. Walewander once met a girl in a local bar and invited her to Tiger Stadium to see him work. The young lady arrived at the ballpark and was stunned to see Walewander playing second base. "She thought I was a peanut vendor or something," Walewander said.

He played one more year with the Tigers before his release. He played with the New York Yankees and then in Italy before his last game, in a California Angels uniform in 1993.

For his career, Walewander played in exactly 162 games (a full baseball season), batting .215 with a home run and 14 RBI in 242 at-bats.

His career in the Major Leagues was due in no small part to the tutelage and guidance in the rudimentary skills he obtained while playing Little League at Oriole Park in Chicago, Illinois.

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/walewji01.shtml Jim Walewander at "Baseball Reference.com"]
* [http://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050502144842296 Jim Walewander and the Disaster of '87]
* [http://www.chinmusic.net/Walewander.html The Dead Milkmen and Jim Walewander]