Welday Walker - College Baseball

College Baseball

While Weldy was still in high school, his older brother, Fleetwood Walker, enrolled at Oberlin College, which was among the first colleges in the United States to become racially integrated. In 1881, Weldy joined his brother at Oberlin College, enrolling as a student in the Oberlin's preparatory school. In the spring of 1881, the Walker brothers played on Oberlin College's first varsity inter-collegiate baseball team. Weldy, a freshman, played right field while Fleetwood, a junior, was the catcher. According to one account, Weldy played second base and finished the 1881 season as Oberlin's second leading batter.

After the 1881 baseball season, brother Fleetwood transferred to the University of Michigan and played as a catcher for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team in 1882. Fleetwood became the first African American to play on a varsity sports team at Michigan and helped lead the Wolverines to a 10–3 record, a conference championship, and the best record for a Michigan baseball team up to that time. Weldy initially remained at Oberlin, but he transferred to Michigan in the fall of 1882 as a student in the homeopathic medical school. In the fall of 1882, the Oberlin Review reported: "Weldy Walker, '85 leaves to assist his brother in making the 'Ann Harbor' nine a little more able to compete with Oberlin." Two weeks later, a writer for an Ann Arbor newspaper noted that "we have added to the list Weldy Walker, a magnificient fielder, safe batter, and phenomenal base runner." Before the 1883 baseball season began, Fleetwood left Michigan to play professional baseball for a team from New Castle, Pennsylvania.

During the 1883 season, Weldy became the second African American to play for the Michigan baseball team. He played third base for Michigan and also served on the Board of Directors of the University Base-Ball Association. Weldy also played for Michigan as a catcher during part of the 1884 baseball season. Weldy scored four runs and had four hits in five at bats to help Michigan defeat Michigan Agricultural College (later known as Michigan State University) on June 14, 1884. According to Rich Adler's book, "Baseball at the University of Michigan," each of the Walker brothers was "accepted as a member of the student body," although neither received a degree from the university.