Valley Girl Views: When A Lewisburg Boy Played For The Yankees

Strictly speaking, Walter Blair was not a Lewisburg boy - but he came to Lewisburg as a Bucknell student. Later he returned to Lewisburg as a coach, and he made his home here, after playing for the Yankees.

Although, strictly speaking, they weren't yet the Yankees. Blair played for the team 1907-1912, when they were called the New York Highlanders. It wasn't until 1913 that the Highlanders were called Yankees.

By the time he finished his professional baseball career, the mining town of Landrus where he had been born was a ghost town - completely deserted. Lewisburg, where he had attended college, would become his hometown.

The Harrisburg Sunday Courier reported in 1925 that Walter Blair was coming back to his alma mater of Bucknell as a baseball coach. They included the following recap of his career:

"Walter Blair played in the outfield of the old Bucknell team of 1904. In the seasons of 1905, 1906, and 1907 he was catcher on the Williamsport "Millionaires", of the old Tri-State League. In 1908-1909 and 1910, Blair was with the New York Yankees. Later he returned to coach the Bucknell diamond team, and following this, he again caught for Newark and later for the Rochester and Buffalo teams. From Rochester he again went to the New York Team, and then to Jersey City.

Concluding his professional career in 1916, he signed to coach the University of Pittsburgh team in the spring of 1917.

Blair's name is always associated with many of the stars on the old "Highlander" team, was regarded as one of the best backstop men of his time and as a dangerous man with a stick. He now makes his home in Lewisburg and is an excellent addition to Bucknell's Athletic staff.

He was one of the first players who ever caught a ball dropped from the top of the Washington D.C. Monument."

Blair played seven seasons in the Major Leagues, primarily as a catcher with the New York Highlanders and Buffalo Buffeds. He made his major league debut in 1907 at the age of 23, appearing in 442 games during his professional career. He finished his career with three home runs, 272 hits, 106 runs batted in and a .217 lifetime batting average. Although the Harrisburg newspaper credits him with a catch from the Washington Monument (the monument was completed in 1894), and that was a popular stunt at the time, I could find no record of Blairs attempt.

This photo hangs in the Lewisburg Hotel.

Walter Allen Blair was born in 1883, in Landrus PA. Landrus was formed in 1882, just a year before Blair was born, as a lumber town. Located in the Tioga State Forest, it was just outside of present day Arnot. In 1888, the coal mine there was the first to have electricity. Between 1910 and 1915, by the time Blair was finishing his time with the Yankees, the railroads changed, and the town was deserted. Remnants of this ghost town exist today.

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