Walter Phillip Rehg was a reserve

Utility player

In sport, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently, a sort of jack of all trades. Sports in which the term is often used include association football , baseball, rugby, rugby league, water polo and softball....

 outfielder

Outfielder

Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...

 in Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

, playing mostly as a right fielder

Right fielder

A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...

 for four different teams between the and seasons. Listed at 5' 8", 160 lb., Rehg batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Summerfield, Illinois

Summerfield, Illinois

Summerfield is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. The population was 472 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Summerfield is located at ....

.

Rehg entered the majors in 1912 with the Pittsburgh Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...

, playing for them one year before joining the Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

 (1913–1915), Boston Braves

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....

 (1917–1918) and Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

 (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

Duffy Lewis

George Edward "Duffy" Lewis , born in San Francisco, California, was a left fielder and left-handed batter who played Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox , New York Yankees and Washington Senators...

 (LF), Tris Speaker

Tris Speaker

Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...

 (CF) and Harry Hooper

Harry Hooper

Harry Bartholomew Hooper was a Major League Baseball player in the early 20th century. Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Hooper was born in Bell Station, California. A graduate in engineering at Saint Mary's College of California, he broke into the majors with the Red Sox in 1909,...

 (RF). His most productive season came in 1917 with the Braves, when he posted career-numbers in batting average

Batting average

Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

 (.270), runs

Run (baseball)

In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...

 (48), RBI

Run batted in

Runs batted in or RBIs is a statistic used in baseball and softball to credit a batter when the outcome of his at-bat results in a run being scored, except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play. The first team to track RBI was the Buffalo Bisons.Common nicknames for an RBI...

 (31) and stolen base

Stolen base

In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...

s (13), while appearing in 87 games. He also was a member of the 1919 National League

National League

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 champions Reds, although he did not play in the World Series

1919 World Series

The 1919 World Series matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. Although most World Series have been of the best-of-seven format, the 1919 World Series was a best-of-nine series...

.

In a seven-season career, Rehg was a .250 hitter (188-for-752) with two home run

Home run

In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...

s and 66 RBI in 263 games, including 85 runs, 24 doubles

Double (baseball)

In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....

, 11 triples

Triple (baseball)

In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....

 and 26 stolen bases.

In between major league stops, Rehg saw regular action in the minor leagues

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 at St. Paul

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

 and Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, and also served in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 in 1918 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He also played in the minors from 1920 through 1930, mostly for Triple-A Indianapolis Indians

Indianapolis Indians

The Indianapolis Indians are a minor league baseball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates major-league club. The Indians play at Victory Field, located in downtown Indianapolis...

, and managed the Tucson

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

 team of the Arizona State League

Arizona-Texas League

The Arizona-Texas League was a low-level circuit in American minor league baseball that existed from 1928-32, 1937-41, 1947-50 and 1952-54. The Arizona-Texas loop merged with the Sunset League to form the Southwest International League in 1951...

 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

Alibi Ike

Alibi Ike is a short story written by Ring Lardner and first published in the Saturday Evening Post on July 31, 1915. The story is about Frank X. Farrell, a baseball player who continually makes excuses for everything that goes wrong or right...

(1935), a baseball comedy starred by Joe Brown

Joe E. Brown (comedian)

Joseph Evans Brown was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous smile. In 1902 at the age of nine, he joined a troupe of circus tumblers known as the Five Marvelous Ashtons which toured the country on both the circus and vaudeville...

 and Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland

Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...

.

Following his baseball career, Regh worked as an electrician helper at Paramount Pictures Studios

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 until the time of his death, in Burbank, California

Burbank, California

Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....

, at the age of 57. He was buried in Glendale's Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery

Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery

Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery at 1341 GlenwoodRoad in Glendale, California was established in 1884 as Grand View Cemetery.The cemetery was purchased by Len C. Davis in the 1920s, renamed Grand View Memorial Park, and extensively remodeled. A 40 foot entrance arch was added on what is now...

.

Facts

• Rehg was called by The Sporting News
  The Sporting News
  Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
  
  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
  Babe Ruth
  George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
  
   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
  Louisville Colonels (minor league baseball team)
  The Louisville Colonels was the name of several minor league baseball teams that played in Louisville, Kentucky, in the 20th century. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels.-Twentieth century minor league teams:...
  
   of the American Association
  American Association (20th century)
  The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
  
  , 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
  Honus Wagner
  -Louisville Colonels:Recognizing his talent, Barrow recommended Wagner to the Louisville Colonels. After some hesitation about his awkward figure, Wagner was signed by the Colonels, where he hit .338 in 61 games....
  
  .