If ever there were a ballpark designed to assist a player, that would be the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Dodgers’ first home after the abandoned Brooklyn for Wally Moon. From the NY Times‘ obituary by Richard Goldstein:
Its dimensions were bizarrely suited for baseball. The wall behind right-center field was some 440 feet from home plate, but it was only 251 feet down the left-field line, where a 42-foot-tall screen had been erected.
Moon’s former Cardinal teammate Stan Musial, one of baseball’s greatest hitters, suggested that Moon try an in-and-out swing that might send opposite-field pops over the screen.
Moon took his advice. He hit 14 of his 19 homers in 1959 at the Coliseum. That year he also batted .302; led the National League in triples, with 11; stole 15 bases; and finished fourth in balloting for most valuable player.
Moon, who made his debut with the St. Louis Cardinals and played with them for five seasons before moving on to the Dodgers for seven, died Feb, 2 at the age of 87.
He published his memoirs, appropriately titled: Moon Shots: Reflections on a Baseball Life
is available on Amazon.com,
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