| Wally Moon | |||
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Moon in 1961.
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| Outfielder | |||
| Born: April 3, 1930 Bay, Arkansas |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 13, 1954, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 12, 1965, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .289 | ||
| Home runs | 142 | ||
| Runs batted in | 661 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Wallace Wade Moon,[1] known popularly as Wally Moon, (born April 3, 1930, in Bay, Arkansas) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder. Moon played his 12-year career in the major leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals (1954–58) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1959–65). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
Moon was the 1954 National League Rookie of the Year. He was an All-Star for two seasons and a Gold Glove winner one season. Moon batted .295 or more for seven seasons. He led the National League (NL) in triples in 1959 and in fielding percentage as left fielder in 1960 and 1961.
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Youth[edit]
Moon was named after Wallace Wade, a former college football coach at the University of Alabama and Duke University. From a family of educators, he earned a master's degree in administrative education from Texas A&M University in College Station while he was still in the minor leagues.[1] He coached from 1953 to 1954 at Lake City, also in Craighead County. In the spring of 1954 the Cardinals told Moon to report to their minor league spring training camp. He ignored the order and reported instead to St. Petersburg with the Cardinals. He said that he would make the team or quit baseball. They let him stay, and by the end of the spring training he replaced Enos Slaughter in the outfield.
Major league career[edit]
Moon made his majors debut on April 13, 1954. To make room for him on the roster, St. Louis sent veteran Enos Slaughter to the New York Yankees. In his first at-bat, despite chants of "We want Slaughter", he belted a home run against the Chicago Cubs; in the same game Tom Alston became the first African American to play for the Cardinals. Moon finished with a .304 batting average, 12 home runs, 76 RBI, and career-high numbers in runs (106), hits (193), doubles (29), and stolen bases (18) in 151 games. He earned both the MLB Rookie of the Year and The Sporting News Rookie of the Year honors. Almost a unanimous vote, Moon won easily over rookies Ernie Banks, Gene Conley and Hank Aaron.[1]
A fine left fielder with a good arm, Moon also played right field and center as well as first base. He was a Gold Glove Award winner in 1960, and made the All--Star team in 1957 and 1959 (two games were played). Twice in his career, Moon compiled double figures in doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases: 22, 11, 16, 12 in 1956, and 26, 11, 19, 15 in 1959, his first year with the Dodgers.
The Dodgers traded outfielder Gino Cimoli for Moon. Both players were coming off years when they batted below .250; the Cardinals also sent pitcher Phil Paine, who wound up not playing for the Dodgers. Moon was initially concerned about batting in the converted L. A. Coliseum: right field was 440 feet away, making it difficult for a left-handed batter. However, the left field seats were only 251 feet away, protected by a 42-foot high screen. After consulting with friend and mentor Stan Musial, Moon adjusted his batting stance to emphasize hitting to left. The results were very successful.[1] In his first season with the Dodgers, the team went from seventh place to the World Championship. Moon provided support in the lineup for Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and Don Demeter. He gained quick public acclaim in 1959 for the "Moon shots" that he hit over the high left field screen. [1][1] Moon hit a home run in the sixth and final game of that World Series, which the Dodgers won over the Chicago White Sox. He also caught Luis Aparicio's fly ball for the final out of the Series.
Moon hit a career-high 24 homers in 1957. Moon enjoyed another good season in 1961, batting .328 with 17 home runs and 88 RBI.
A career .289 hitter, Moon hit 142 home runs with 661 RBI in 1457 games. He had tremendous discipline at the plate, compiling a remarkable 1.90 walk-to-strikeout ratio (644 to 591), with a .371 on-base percentage and a .445 slugging average for a combined .816 OPS. Appropriately, he scored the last run ever in the Coliseum.[1]
Post-playing career[edit]
After playing in the majors, Moon went on to become athletic director and baseball coach at John Brown University, and a coach and minor league manager and owner of the San Antonio Dodgers for four years beginning in the late 1970s. Moon moved to Bryan, Texas, where he has lived for over 25 years. He retired in 1998. He is married to Bettye and has five children and seven grandchildren.[1]
Moon is featured on many websites featuring baseball cards, as he sported a prominent unibrow.
A Jan. 27, 1960 episode ("The Larry Hanify Story") of the popular TV western, Wagon Train, features Wally Moon in a brief role. The end credits include: "And Introducing Wally Moon as Sheriff Bender." There is no baseball tie-in with his character, but the sheriff does catch a bullet during a shoot-out with Tommy Sands' bad guy. A rerun of the program aired on the Encore Westerns Channel, May 12, 2011.
In 1969 Wally was a batting coach for the San Diego Padres where he joined Manager Preston Gomez and pitching Coach Roger Craig.
See also[edit]
- Home run in first Major League at-bat
- List of NL Gold Glove Winners at Outfield
- MLB Rookie of the Year Award
- The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award
- List of Major League Baseball triples champions
References[edit]
2. Wally Moon (II) at The International Movie Data Base - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0600689/
External links[edit]
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Retrosheet
- Venezuelan Baseball League
- Wally Moon official website
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