Walk Signs On for a Speaking Part : Veteran Pitcher Now Part of Rotation in Pirate Radio Booth

Knowing his chances of having the last word had grown slim, Rich Donnelly instead chose to dig in the first needle.

Asked about Bob Walk’s new job as a broadcaster covering the Pittsburgh Pirates, Donnelly, the club’s third base coach opined, “He’s been second-guessing (Manager) Jim (Leyland’s) decisions for eight years. He might as well get paid for it.”

Walk, who has spent the past eight baseball seasons as a mainstay on the Pirate pitching staff, had a long, hard laugh over that one.

But the more he thought about it, the more truth he saw in Donnelly’s tongue-in-cheek statement.

“That’s actually a pretty accurate quote,” Walk said by telephone from the Pirates’ spring training base in Bradenton, Fla., last week. “A lot of times I would bring things up, like why did he make a certain move in a certain situation. But it wasn’t to second-guess as much as it was for my own information.”

In his new role for the team after his retirement as a player, Walk will be asked to pass along his knowledge over the airwaves. About six weeks ago, the Pirates added the 37-year-old former Hart High and College of the Canyons pitcher to their four-man broadcasting crew as a color commentator.

And so, just as one door appeared to be closing, another opened wide.

“It’s like I never retired,” said Walk, who spent at least part of 14 major-league seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and Pirates. “I just have a different job description. I still ride the same bus and go to dinner with the same people.”

In October, Walk declined a $275,000 offer from the Pirates to return to the club as a relief pitcher. He expected his services would be worth twice as much to another club as a starter.

He miscalculated.

Less than a month before the start of spring training, his only offers were for minor league contracts from the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. Walk, who made $1.825 million last season, decided he would rather quit and pursue the Pirates’ radio job.

“I know in my mind I still could probably pitch another year or two, but by the time I was done this window of opportunity might not be open,” Walk said. “I knew I couldn’t play forever, so it was time to get out while the getting was good.”

Walk has no broadcast experience other than that derived from mimicking then-Angel announcers Dick Enberg and Don Wells as a youth growing up in Newhall.

“This is totally new,” Walk said. “They just threw me in the deep end. But the play-by-play guys drive the ship. All I’m there to do is sit back and talk about the game. What type of training do I need for that? I’ve been doing it all my life.”

Before pursuing his new position, Walk sought the advice of Leyland.

“My personal opinion is that he did the right thing (by) bowing out gracefully,” Leyland said. “There’s so much financial reward nowadays, it’s hard to go out when you still might be capable of winning some games. But I think he made the right choice, and I’m tickled to death that he’s still going to be with us as a part of the Pirate organization.”

The feeling is mutual. Walk resurrected his career as a member of the Pirates after being released by the Braves 10 years ago. Walk had a record of 82-61 for Pittsburgh and played a key role as the club won division championships in 1990, ’91 and ’92.

“It was a strange feeling, that first day I came back to spring training,” Walk said. “I got . . . a nervous stomach when I saw everyone else on the field.

“But I’m happy I made the decision.”

As a player, Walk was considered a student of the game. He is using the same approach in the booth.

“One of the things that really impressed me about Bob was that he held a position with the Pirate broadcast team in such high regard,” said Lanny Frattare, who is in his 19th season as the club’s top play-by-play announcer.

“I’ve seen other players go into the booth and act like the position was owed to them. Bob’s enthusiasm for his new job has been infectious for all of us.”

Frattare said Walk’s tenure with the Pirates will both help and hinder him at his new post.

“The advantage is that he knows the players and they trust him and he has that same relationship with Jim Leyland and the coaching staff,” Frattare said. “They are going to tell Bob things, on or off the record, that they might not tell anyone else. The down side to that is you have to learn how to use that information without violating trusts.”

Walk is also aware he must navigate a fine line as a critic.

“I work for the Pirates and they pay my salary, so I have to be positive,” he said. “But I also still have to maintain my credibility.

“I tend to be fairly conservative and I think they like me that way. They’ve told me they’re not looking for any home runs. Just some singles.”

As a player, Walk will be remembered as a steady if rarely spectacular performer. He was, at one time or another, a starter, a reliever and a bullpen stopper. He was traded, released, sent down to the minors and fought his way back up.

He also was on a world championship team--the Phillies, 1980--pitched for five division winners and made the All-Star team in 1988. In one six-year stretch, from 1987-92, Walk was the only National League pitcher to post a winning record with at least 10 decisions each season.

That makes him good trivia but does not trivialize his accomplishments in the eyes of his former coaches and teammates. Yet, as a blue-collar pitcher toiling in a blue-collar town, his contributions to the success of the Pirates went largely unrecognized outside Pittsburgh.

“All Walkie ever did was give you his best, whatever it was, every time out,” Leyland said.

Reflecting on his career, Walk said he wouldn’t change a thing--not even the low point, his 1984 release by the Braves.

“In the long run, that was the best thing that could have happened to me because I ended up with the Pirates,” Walk said.

“It seems like my whole career I’ve been in the right place at the right time. It’s been a great run, and it’s not over. This is just another chapter that’s beginning.”