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Seventy years ago, before televisions were standard in every home, KMOX radio brought St. Louis Cardinals’ games to living rooms and front porches all over Arkansas. Rural Arkansans loved the Cards, and Stan Musial was every grandpa’s favorite player. Most young Arkansas boys dreamed of playing with Musial and wearing that big-league uniform with Redbirds perched on a golden bat. In April 1954, Wallace Wade Moon of Bay, Arkansas, was living that dream, but with a few complications.
On April 12, the day before the opening of the 1954 season, St. Louis fans lined the streets for a parade to salute their hometown heroes. Each convertible with a player sitting atop the back seat was greeted with yells of approval and a warm welcome, all except one. The automobile with rookie Wally Moon was showered with boos and chants of “We want Slaughter.”
Enos “Country” Slaughter was a hometown hero. His dramatic “mad dash” from first base to score the winning run in the Seventh Game of the 1946 World Series was a cherished moment in team history. Slaughter’s hustle and competitive style had won the hearts of St. Louis fans, and his trade the previous week was not well received. A distraught Slaughter had been pictured in local papers that morning crying into a towel, and the parade gave Cardinals’ fans an opportunity to let his 25-year-old replacement know he was not welcome.
Although Moon’s reception in St. Louis was not what he had imagined, he was not a typical rookie desperate to make the team. Wally Moon had responsibilities and choices. When he signed with the Cardinals after a successful college career at Texas A&M, Moon’s dad had insisted on a clause in his contract that allowed him to adjust his minor league seasons and remain in college. By 1954, he had a master’s degree, a wife, and a young son. If things did not work out in St. Louis, he could find a job outside baseball that offered more than the $300 a month he had been paid as a minor leaguer.
Opening Day 1954 was an afternoon game at Busch Stadium against the Cardinals’ rivals, the Chicago Cubs. The reception did not improve for the young Arkansan who had the misfortune of replacing a beloved Cardinals’ hero. “Where’s Old Eno?” signs were scattered around the crowd, and boos rained down on Wally Moon as he trotted out to center field. Sharing boos with the archrival Cubs was not the greeting Moon had dreamed of as a youngster back in Arkansas.
After the Cubs failed to score in the first inning, Moon took his place in the on-deck circle, giving Cardinals’ fans another chance to let the rookie know, “We want Slaughter!” The boos intensified as Moon entered the batter’s box after leadoff hitter Rip Repulski popped up to the first baseman. With the count of two balls and no strikes, Wally Moon made St. Louis Cardinal history.
Moon not only connected on a towering drive to right field, the ball cleared the right-field pavilion in Sportsman’s Park and bounced into the street on Grand Avenue. By the time he reached second base, the boos had changed to a standing ovation. The unpopular rookie had hit a home run in his first big-league at-bat.
By the end of April, the “We Want Slaughter” signs had disappeared. Wally Moon hit .353 in his first month in the big leagues. He added another home run on April 20, had a five-hit game on April 23, and led the team with a .469 on-base percentage. In one short month, Wally Moon had gone from an unwanted replacement to a Cardinals’ hero.
Despite leading the league in runs scored, the 1954 St. Louis Cardinals inexplicably finished sixth in the National League. Stan Musial batted .330 and led the league in doubles. Red Schoendienst, Ray Jablonski, and Harvey Haddix joined Musial on the All-Star team. Wally Moon, who had homered in his first big-league at-bat, hit the game-winning home run in the 11th inning of the last game of the season. Moon was named National League Rookie of the Year a few weeks later. Ernie Banks finished second, and Hank Aaron finished fourth.
Moon would remain with the Cardinals for five seasons. Over those years, he batted .291, made an All-Star team, hit 78 home runs, and finished in the top 10 in the league batting average leaders.
Despite Moon’s success and having Stan Musial and Ken Boyer in their lineup, the Cards finished in the first division only once during those frustrating seasons. After an injury-plagued year that saw his batting average plummet to .238, St. Louis gave up on Wally Moon. On December 4, 1958, the Cards traded their popular outfielder to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Gino Cimoli.
Cimoli would hit .279 in his only season in St. Louis. Wally Moon made the All-Star team, led the league in triples, and finished fourth in the MVP vote. He hit a home run in the sixth and deciding game of the Dodgers 1959 World Series Championship. Moon finished fourth in the National League MVP vote, and manager Walt Alston stated, “Winning this pennant was a team victory, but of all the players, I’d have to say Moon was the most consistent.” By 1965, Cimoli had played for six different teams. Wally Moon had played in two All-Star Games, won a Gold Glove, and played on three Dodgers’ World Series Champion teams.
Wally Moon retired from baseball after the 1965 season, but he was not ready for a life of leisure. The Moon family moved to Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where Wally served for 10 years in various capacities, including baseball coach at John Brown University. In 1969 while at JBU, Moon was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. In 2014, he was named to the John Brown University Hall of Fame.
In a speaking engagement at the Crittenden County Historical Society in 1912, Moon answered a familiar question. His biggest thrill in baseball was that trot around the bases after his first big-league at-bat in 1954.
Wallace Wade Moon died in Bryan, Texas, in 2018.
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