“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.
