Wally Moon

Positions: Outfielder and First Baseman
Bats: Left  •  Throws: Right
6-0, 169lb (183cm, 76kg)
Born: April 3, 1930 in Bay, AR
Died: February 9, 2018  in Bryan, TX
Buried: College Station Cemetery, College Station, TX
High School: Bay HS (Bay, AR)
School: Texas A&M University (College Station, TX)
Debut: April 13, 1954 (11,077th in major league history)
vs. CHC 3 AB, 1 H, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: September 12, 1965
vs. HOU 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Full Name: Wallace Wade Moon
View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject

Nine Players Who Debuted in 1954

Hank Aaron
Harmon Killebrew
Bill Skowron
Vic Power
Camilo Pascual
Ryne Duren
Wally Moon
Don Zimmer
Frank Lary

All-Time Teammate Team

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Notable Events and Chronology for Wally Moon Career

SearchSearch Events, Dates and More Date (Newest)Title (A - Z)

April 13, 1954

Wally Moon hits a home run in his first major league at-bat & om Alston becomes the first black player to wear a Cardinals uniform.

December 19, 1954

Wally Moon becomes the first Cardinal player to be selected by the BBWAA as the National League’s Rookie of the Year

May 5, 1955

In his first major league start, Dodger rookie starter Tommy Lasorda ties a record, throwing three wild pitches in the first inning of the team’s 4-3 victory over St. Louis at Ebbets Field. The future Dodgers’ Hall of Fame skipper, during his one inning of work, will be spiked by Wally Moon, covering a play at home plate after uncorking on of his errant pitches.

May 16, 1956

In Jersey City, Cards RF Wally Moon hits his first major league home run, but St. Louis loses, 5 – 3, to the Dodgers. The Dodgers score five unearned runs in the 4th.

April 7, 1958

Los Angeles Dodgers erect a 42-foot screen at the Los Angeles Coliseum

December 4, 1958

The Dodgers trade OF Gino Cimoli to the Cardinals for OF Wally Moon and RHP Phil Paine.

September 29, 1959

Los Angeles Dodgers capture the NL Pennant with a dramatic 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the Braves

October 5, 1959

Dodgers take a 3-1 lead in World Series over White Sox – Full Broadcast

October 8, 1959

In Game 6, the Dodgers defeat the ‘Go-Go Sox,’ 9-3, to win the 1959 World Series.

June 7, 1961

1961 – Roberto Clemente’s second career home run off Sandy Koufax comes, like the first, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, a 1st-inning, bases-empty blast which gets Pittsburgh off to a quick 1 – 0 lead. Unlike the earlier Coliseum clout (his opposite-field moon shot of August 30, 1960), this one is pulled over the Coliseum’s notoriously surmountable left-field barrier. However, unlike Dodger left fielder – and left-handed hitter – Wally Moon’s stock in trade, the strategically-served pop flies derisively dubbed ‘Moon Shots’, this moon shot needs no air quotes, landing some 35 rows beyond the screen.

August 6, 1961

Maury Wills’ first home run in 1,167 major league at bats, and a double, triple, and home run by Frank Howard give the Dodgers an 11 – 4 win against Chicago and first place by a half game in the National League. Wills has three hits and scores four runs, while Johnny Podres gives up ten hits, but goes the distance to win. Wally Moon drives in three runs with three hits.

October 2, 1962

Dodgers walkoff with a game 2 Playoff Game win over Giants

July 4, 2000

Becoming only the third player in Cardinal history to homer in his first career at-bat, Keith McDonald pinch hits a home run in a 14 – 3 victory over the Reds. Eddie Morgan 1936 and Wally Moon 1954 are the other Redbirds to accomplish the feat.

Biography

“Moon shots” were what they called the home runs that lefthanded-batting Wally Moon golfed over the 42-foot wall a mere 250 feet down the Los Angeles Coliseum’s left field line with his inside-out swing. Though he didn’t hit many of them, the newly arrived Moon hit them early in 1959, and his ingenuity seemed to capture the spirit of the ragtag bunch that took the Dodgers from seventh place to the World Championship. Appropriately, he scored the last run ever in the Coliseum.

Moon homered in his first major league at-bat, as a Cardinal in 1954, en route to batting .304 and winning the Rookie of the Year award over Hank Aaron. He peaked with 24 HR in 1957, but was traded to the Dodgers after a .238 showing in 1958. A fine defensive outfielder, he won a Gold Glove in 1960.

Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts

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