Walter Thornton

Infobox MLB retired
name=Walter Thornton
position=Outfielder/Pitcher


bgcolor1=#263473
bgcolor2=#A50024
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white
bats=Left
throws=Left
birthdate=February 18 1875
city-state|Lewiston|Maine
deathdate=death date and age|1960|7|14|1875|2|18
city-state|Los Angeles|California
debutdate= July 1
debutyear= by|1895
debutteam= Chicago Colts
finaldate= October 8
finalyear= by|1898
finalteam= Chicago Orphans
stat1label=Pitching record
stat1value=23-18
stat2label=Earned run average
stat2value=4.18
stat3label=Batting average
stat3value=.312
teams=
* Chicago Colts/Orphans (by|1895–by|1898))
highlights=
*Pitched a no-hitter in 1898 against the Brooklyn Bridegrooms

Walter Miller Thornton (February 18 1875 – July 14 1960) was an American Major League Baseball player who played from by|1895 through by|1898 for the Chicago Colts/Orphans.

A skilled athlete who excelled in baseball, Thornton pitched Snohomish, Washington, to the state’s amateur championship in 1893. In the spring of 1895, two Cornell College graduates who owned the Snohomish Tribune arranged a scholarship for Thornton to attend Cornell. He dominated the college competition and was invited to a tryout with the Chicago Colts (later the Chicago Cubs) National League baseball team. He made his major league pitching debut July 1, 1895, while still enrolled at Cornell.

He pitched a no-hitter on August 21, 1898 against the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, a 2-0 victory. In by|1896, Thornton married a Cornell teacher, Sarah Andrews Hackett, director of the School of Oratory and Physical Culture. She was 26, and he was 21. After a salary dispute ended his major league baseball career, the Thorntons returned to the Pacific Northwest, where Walter played semi-pro ball and worked in Everett, Washington. In by|1901, Thornton compiled what is arguably the county’s best baseball team. The Everett semi-pro team won its first 27 games and shut out professional teams from Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma.

In 1910, an evangelist named Billy Sunday, a former professional baseball player for the Chicago White Stockings and the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, brought a six-week religious campaign to Everett. Thornton became a lifelong follower of Sunday and his religious teachings. He later moved to Los Angeles in the 1920s, after Sarah’s death, to become a street preacher and help the poor. In July 1960, Thornton died in a Los Angeles hotel, and was cremated.

ee also

* List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

External links

* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=thornwa01 Baseball Almanac]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/thornwa01.shtml Baseball Reference]
* [http://www.cornellcollege.edu/ram_report/summer_2005/ Cornell College]

Persondata
NAME = Thornton, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Thornton, Walter Miller
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Major League Baseball player, Christian Evangelist
DATE OF BIRTH = February 18 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH = Lewiston, Maine
DATE OF DEATH = July 14 1960
PLACE OF DEATH = Los Angeles, California