:Walter Sessi

{{Short description|American baseball player (1918–1998)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Walter Sessi

|position=Outfielder

|image=Walter Sessi.jpeg

|caption=

|bats=Left

|throws=Left

|birth_date={{birth date|1918|7|23}}

|birth_place=Finleyville, Pennsylvania, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|1998|4|18|1918|7|23}}

|death_place=Mobile, Alabama, U.S.

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=September 18

|debutyear=1941

|debutteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 27

|finalyear=1946

|finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.074

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=1

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=2

|teams=

• St. Louis Cardinals ({{by|1941}}, {{by|1946}})

}}

Walter Anthony Sessi (July 23, 1918 – April 18, 1998), nicknamed "Watsie", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and pinch hitter who appeared in 20 total MLB games for the St. Louis Cardinals in {{By|1941}} and {{By|1946}}. The native of Finleyville, Pennsylvania, threw and batted left-handed, stood {{convert|6|ft|3|in}} tall and weighed {{convert|225|lb}}.

Sessi's professional baseball career began in 1937 in the minor leagues and was interrupted by his four years of service (1942–1945) in the United States Army during World War II.{{cite web |url=https://baseballinwartime.com/those_who_served/those_who_served.htm |title=Those Who Served |last=Bedingfield |first=Gary |date= |website=Baseball in Wartime |publisher= |access-date=19 December 2021 |quote=}}{{cite book|title=The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia|year=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishing|isbn=978-1-4027-4771-7|pages=891}} During his 14-season minor league career, which ended in 1955, he was known as a power hitter, blasting more than 20 home runs six times, capped by a 45-homer season in 1952 in the Class B Gulf States League.

As a big-leaguer, Sessi compiled two hits and two bases on balls in 29 plate appearances. One of his hits was a ninth-inning, walk-off home run on August 28, 1946, against the New York Giants' Bill Voiselle at Sportsman's Park, which carried the Cardinals to a 3–2 victory.{{cite web |url=https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1946/B08282SLN1946.htm |title=St. Louis Cardinals 3, New York Giants 2 (2)|author= |date=28 August 1946 |website=Retrosheet |publisher= |access-date=19 December 2021 |quote=}} Every win was important for the 1946 Redbirds, who would finish the regular season in a tie with the Brooklyn Dodgers for the pennant, sweep the 1946 National League tie-breaker series, and defeat the Boston Red Sox for the world championship.