Here, Have a Moon Shot with Your Chips
When a monobrow swing turns inside-out
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1961 Bell Brand Dodgers Wally Moon (#9) - Card of the Day
Not too many baseball men can claim that they have a type of hit named after them. But when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles for 1958 and then sent Gino Cimoli to the Cardinals for Phil Paine and Wally Moon after the season, they set the stage for a new entry to baseball’s lexicon.
Playing their home games at Los Angeles Coliseum, a football stadium, the Dodgers entered September of 1959 behind the Giants and battling the Milwaukee Braves for second place in the National League.
Then, in his last 17 games of the season, Moon hit seven home runs after connecting on just 12 in 128 contests before that. Heeding the advice of former Cardinals teammate Stan Musial, the left-handed Moon made a habit of hitting the ball to the opposite field to take advantage of the short 251-foot distance to left. There, a 42-foot-high screen separated the field from the stands — to hit a home run, a batter had to clear that barrier.
When Moon sent multiple shots over the barrier at the height of a few ranch houses, Dodgers announcer Vin Scully (or was it Jerry Doggett? Depends on your source), mentioned that the left fielder had hit another one of his “moon shots.”
Now, this was the era of the great space race, the same year the Soviet Union beat the United States to the lunar-probe punch with their Luna program. All thoughts and eyes were on the sky, and the moon in particular. When Moon gave folks a reason to turn their gaze back to the diamond, the link was immediate and obvious (in hindsight).
The Dodgers won the pennant and, eventually, the World Series, where Moon hit another home run to help dispatch the White Sox in six games.
Moon went deep 13 times in 1960 and then began 1961 with eight homers in his first 12 games, all at home. That helped solidify the notion of the “moon shot” in baseball circles and helped Moon put up his final star-level season (.328, 17 HR, 88 RBI).
That same summer, collectors had a shot to get a Moon Shot treat when they were crunching their fried treats…Bell Brand potato chips and corn chips, that is. For the third year since 1958, the southern California snack maker included full-color cards of Dodger players in cellophane packs included in their chip bags.
And for the first time, Wally Moon showed up, on card #9 (corresponding to his uniform number).
Moon may not have been the most popular pull among Dodger fans, not when superstars like Don Drysdale and Duke Snider were on the checklist, not to mention budding standouts like Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, and Sandy Koufax.
(See full checklist at bottom of post.)
But if you wanted a dude with his own hit type? Wallace Wade Moon was your man.
The late three-time All-Star was born 95 years ago today.
Happy and Sunny Days with 1984 Topps Ralston Purina Pedro Guerrero
April 3 took on new meaning for the Dodgers, and baseball, in 1974, though it’s likely hardly anyone noticed at the time. That day, the Dodgers traded Bruce Ellingsen to the Indians for 17-year-old Pedro Guerrero.
Ten years later, the slugger was lighting up National League pitchers…and our cereal boxes, smiling out from his 1984 Ralston Purina card (#30). Read more about Pedro and this card over on the Wax Pack Gods website.
1961 Bell Brand Dodgers Checklist
(Click here for a GoogleSheets version)
4 Duke Snider
9 Wally Moon
11 Bob Lillis
12 Tom Davis
14 Gil Hodges
16 Don Demeter
19 Jim Gilliam
22 John Podres
30 Maury Wills
32 Sandy Koufax
34 Norm Sherry
37 Ed Roebuck
38 Roger Craig
43 Charlie Neal
51 Larry Sherry