Walter Thornton

For the president of Santa Clara University, see Walter F. Thornton. For the American model agent, see Walter Clarence Thornton. For the English cricketer, see Walter Thornton (cricketer).

Walter Thornton
Outfielder / Pitcher
Born: (1875-02-18)February 18, 1875 Peoria, Illinois
Died: July 14, 1960(1960-07-14) (aged 85) Los Angeles, California
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
July 1, 1895, for the Chicago Colts
Last MLB appearance
October 8, 1898, for the Chicago Orphans
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	23–18
Earned run average	4.18
Batting average	.312
Teams
Chicago Colts/Orphans (1895–1898)
Career highlights and awards
Pitched a no-hitter on August 21, 1898 against the Brooklyn Bridegrooms

Walter Miller Thornton (February 18, 1875 – July 14, 1960) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1895 through 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 debut on 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 1896, Thornton married a Cornell teacher, Sarah Andrews, director of the School of Oratory and Physical Culture. She was 26, 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 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.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters

External links

• Baseball Almanac
• Baseball Reference
• Cornell College