Walt Dixon
From BR Bullpen
Walter Edward Dixon
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 2", Weight 220 lb.
- Born November 25, 1920 in Mount Vernon Springs, NC USA
- Died September 25, 2003 in Florence, SC USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
Walt Dixon, originally a pitcher, played 16 years in the minors (1940-1958), losing three years to the Military. Dixon was signed as an amateur free agent before the 1940 season at age 19 and pitched for Canton in the Mid-Atlantic League (1940); Rocky Mount in the Piedmont League (1940); Greensboro in the Piedmont League (1941); and Scranton in the Eastern League (1942).
He served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II (1943-1945)(PD). After the War, he pitched for Roanoke in the Piedmont League (1946); Scranton in the Eastern League (1946); Reidsville in the Tri-State League (1947); and Florence in the Tri-State League (1948-1949); when he was converted to a postion player.
Walt started managing as a player-manager for Shelby in the Western Carolina League (1949-1950); Greenwood in the Tri-State League (1951); Headland in the Alabama-Florida League (1952); Norton in the Mountain States League(1953); Middlesboro in the Mountain States League (1954); Lafayette in the Evangeline League (1954); Kokomo in the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League (1955); Crestview in the Alabama-Florida League(1956); Lafayette in the Evangeline League (1957); Magic Valley in the Pioneer League (1957); and Burlington in the Three-I League (1958); thus ending his playing career at age 37.
He then managed in the minors (with a brief stop as a coach for the Chicago Cubs in 1964-1965), retiring at the end of the 1986 season, having attained the age of 65. As a player, Dixon hit 206 homeruns and had 996 RBI and was 52-57 as a pitcher. Dixon compiled a record of 1484-1521 record over 27 seasons as a minor league manager, mostly with the Chicago Cubs franchise.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- Led 1953 Mountain States League in HR (37), RBI (162) and Hits (197)
- Led 1955 Mississippi-Ohio Valley League in HR (24)
- Had over 20 Homeruns six seasons in the minors
- Had over 100 RBI five seasons in the minors
[edit] Sources
Principal sources for Walt Dixon include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.
