Jerry Walker

Who is Jerry Walker?

Jerry Allen Walker is a former right-handed pitcher in American Major League Baseball who performed for the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Athletics and Cleveland Indians between 1957 and 1964.

A member of the Orioles' fabled "Kiddie Corps" of young pitchers signed in the late 1950s, Walker is one of a very few players to have gone straight to the major leagues without ever playing a game in the minor leagues. He also became the youngest pitcher ever to start an All-Star game when he started the game for the American League in 1959.

By age 26, however, Walker was out of the major leagues. He has maintained his involvement in baseball as a minor league manager, pitching coach, scout and front-office executive. He served one season as the general manager of the Detroit Tigers. From 1995 through 2007, he was the vice president and director of player personnel in the front office of the St. Louis Cardinals, working as a key assistant to then-GM Walt Jocketty. He is currently a vice president and special assistant to Jocketty with the Cincinnati Reds.