Local baseball fans watched Neil Walker grow from a superstar high school athlete at Pine-Richland to an important contributor for the Pittsburgh Pirates as they returned to the playoffs after a two-decade absence in 2013.
On Tuesday, Walker announced his retirement after 12 years in the major leagues.
“Officially retired, thank you to everyone that helped me in my journey to live out my childhood dream of being a Major Leaguer, I loved & cherished every day,” Walker wrote on his Twitter page.
His hometown team’s first-round draft choice in 2004, Walker made his big-league debut for the Pirates in 2009. He played six full seasons with the team, hitting .272 with 93 home runs.
He was traded to the Mets in 2015.
“I’m a Pittsburgh person,” he told the Tribune-Review in 2015. “I’ve been to a lot of different places, (but) nowhere else in the country has the same sense of community as the Pittsburgh area. I feel like I’ve tried to give that blue-collar effort day in and day out for the organization. And I hope that, at the end of the day, I’ve made people in Pittsburgh proud.”
Officially retired, thank you to everyone that helped me in my journey to live out my childhood dream of being a Major Leaguer, I loved & cherished every day. From Pittsburgh, NY Mets & Yankees, Milwaukee, Miami, and Philly, nothing but love to those Organizations, Cities & Fans! pic.twitter.com/mvl3cg9k80
— Neil Walker (@NeilWalker18) April 20, 2021
Walker also played with the Yankees and Marlins before wrapping up his career by playing 18 games with the Phillies last season.
He was a career .267 hitter with 149 home runs.
In high school, Walker was the 2004 Tribune-Review male co-athlete of the year after hitting .657 with 13 home runs and helping Pine-Richland to a WPIAL title.
His No. 24 was retired by Pine-Richland in 2010 and he was inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame in 2012.
