Wally Rehg

Walter Phillip Rehg (August 31, 1888 – April 5, 1946) was a reserve outfielder in Major League Baseball, playing mostly as a right fielder for four different teams between the 1912 and 1919 seasons. Listed at 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m), 160 lb., Rehg batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Summerfield, Illinois.

Rehg entered the majors in 1912 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, playing for them one year before joining the Boston Red Sox (1913–1915), Boston Braves (1917–1918) and Cincinnati Reds (1919). He appeared in a career-high 88 games with the 1914 Red Sox, as a backup for the fabled Million-Dollar Outfield of Duffy Lewis (LF), Tris Speaker (CF) and Harry Hooper (RF). His most productive season came in 1917 with the Braves, when he posted career-numbers in batting average (.270), runs (48), RBI (31) and stolen bases (13), while appearing in 87 games. He also was a member of the 1919 National League champions Reds, although he did not play in the World Series.

In a seven-season career, Rehg was a .250 hitter (188-for-752) with two home runs and 66 RBI in 263 games, including 85 runs, 24 doubles, 11 triples and 26 stolen bases.

In between major league stops, Rehg saw regular action in the minor leagues at St. Paul and Providence, and also served in the United States Navy in 1918 during World War I. He also played in the minors from 1920 through 1930, mostly for Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, and managed the Tucson team of the Arizona State League in his last baseball season.

Besides baseball, Rehg appeared in the films Fast Company (1929), playing himself, and as an uncredited ballplayer in Alibi Ike (1935), a baseball comedy starred by Joe Brown and Olivia de Havilland.

Following his baseball career, Rehg worked as an electrician helper at Paramount Pictures Studios until the time of his death, in Burbank, California, at the age of 57. He was buried in Glendale's Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery.

Facts

• Rehg was called by The Sporting News as the Freshest Man in Baseball, as he lived up to his reputation as a bench comedian throughout his baseball career, at the time that added He is a perpetual breeze of comedy and original ideas and may stick around this time... Some of the stories told of Rehg's nerve seem impossible, but they are vouched for on good authority.
• Was the starting right fielder for Boston when Babe Ruth made his majors debut (July 11, 1914).
• In 1917 was installed in the Braves line up as a regular for the first time of his career. Twice that season he collected four hits in a game (September 10 and September 25) and belted his first career home run (September 4).
• In 1927 hit .343 for the Louisville Colonels of the American Association, the highest average of his career to that point.

Quote

• Hello, Foxy Grandpa, I've read about you! – Wally Rehg's first words during his rookie season after being introduced to legendary Honus Wagner.

References

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Retrosheet
• SABR biography
• IMDb entry