Batting average .262 Role Baseball player Home runs 66 Height 1.91 m | Runs batted in 284 Weight 93 kg Name Lee Walls | |
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Died October 11, 1993, Los Angeles, California, United States | ||
Raymond Lee Walls Jr. (January 6, 1933 – October 11, 1993) was an American professional baseball player, an outfielder who appeared in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1952 and 1964 as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also played one season in Japan in 1965 for the Hankyu Braves. The native of San Diego threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 205 pounds (93 kg). Walls wore eyeglasses on the field during his active career, a rarity for players of his era, and was nicknamed "Captain Midnight" because of his eyewear.
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Playing career
Walls graduated from Pasadena High School and attended Pasadena City College. He signed with the Pirates in 1951. In 1956, his first full MLB season, Walls hit .274 with 11 triples (third in the National League), 11 home runs and 54 runs batted in. On July 2, 1957, Walls—by this time a member of the Cubs—hit for the cycle. However, the Cubs dropped that day's contest, 8–6, to Cincinnati at Wrigley Field. It was the highlight of poor sophomore season for Walls, with his batting average dropping to .237 in 125 games played.
But 1958 proved to be Walls' best season. Playing as the Cubs' regular right fielder, Walls reached career highs in hits (156), homers (24), RBI (72) and batting average (.304) in 136 games. On April 24, against the newly-relocated Dodgers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, minutes down the freeway from his hometown of Pasadena, Walls hits three home runs and drove home eight runs in a 15–2 Chicago rout. Selected to the National League All-Star team as a reserve, he pinch hit for the Pirates' Bob Skinner in the seventh inning and grounded out against Billy O'Dell. Walls stayed in the game to play left field, but that was his only plate appearance as the American League won, 4–3, at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.
Walls' production declined in 1959 and after that season his last five years in MLB were spent as a utility man, playing infield as well as outfield, and pinch hitter. Walls delivered 45 hits in 176 at bats (.256) during his career as a pinch hitter, and was particularly effective in 1962, going 13-for-27 (.482) in the pinch for the Dodgers, who ended the 162-game season in a tie with the San Francisco Giants, necessitating a best-of-three playoff round.
Walls played all three games of the 1962 National League tie-breaker series, including a Game 1 start at first base, and contributed a pinch double in Game 2 (coincidentally, off O'Dell), driving home three RBI to spark a crucial, seven-run Los Angeles rally. By winning, 8–7, the Dodgers staved off elimination and extended the series to a decisive third contest. The next day, however, the Dodgers fell to the Giants in the ninth and final inning. Walls, pinch hitting for Larry Burright, made the final out, lining out to center fielder Willie Mays.
The following year, Walls was a member of the 1963 world champion Dodgers, but did not appear in his club's four-game sweep of the New York Yankees in the World Series. In 902 total games played over ten National League seasons, Walls collected 670 hits, with 88 doubles, 31 triples and 66 homers. After spending 1965 playing baseball in Japan, Walls retired as an active player.
Later career
A decade and a half after his last appearance for the Dodgers, Walls returned to MLB as a coach for the Oakland Athletics (1979–82) and Yankees (1983), working primarily for Billy Martin, a teammate on the 1960 Reds, and as a minor league manager. He died in Los Angeles at the age of 60 after suffering from liver disease.