Wally Moon

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Wallace Wade Moon (born April 3, 1930 in Bay, Arkansas) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. Moon played his 12-year career in the National League for the St. Louis Cardinals (1954-58) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1959-65). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Moon made his majors debut on April 13, 1954. In order to make room for him in the roster, St. Louis sent the veteran Enos Slaughter to the Yankees. Moon responded for good. In his first at-bat, he belted a home run against the Cubs; in the same game that Tom Alston became the first black 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 an unanimous vote, Moon won easily over rookies Ernie Banks, Gene Conley and Hank Aaron.

A fine left fielder with a good arm, Moon also played right field and center as well as the first base. He was a Gold Glove Award winner in 1960 as he made the All--Star team in 1957 and 1959.

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. In that season, his first with the Dodgers, he took his team from seventh place to the World Championship, providing support in the line-up for Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and Don Demeter. He gained quick public acclaim in 1959 for the "Moonshots" that he hit over the 41 foot tall left-field fence that was just 250 feet from home plate in the Dodgers' temporary quarters in the L. A. Coliseum. [1]

Beside this, he 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 also 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-t0-591), 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.

Moon graduated from Texas A & M and coached for a year at Lake City, AR (1953-4). In the spring of 1954 the Cardinals told Moon to report to their minor league spring training camp. He ignored that and reported 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.

[edit] Highlights

  • Twice All-Star (1957, 1959)
  • Gold Glove Award (1960)
  • MLB and TSN Rookie of the Year awards (1954)
  • Hit a home run in his first at-bat (April 13, 1954)
  • Completed a 24-game hitting streak (May 5 - June 1, 1957)
  • Four stolen bases in a game (1954)
  • Led league in on base percentage (.434, 1961)
  • Top 10 MVP (4th., 1959)

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[edit] External link

Preceded by
Jim Gilliam		 National League Rookie of the Year
1954		 Succeeded by
Bill Virdon
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