Wally Hood (hoodwa01)

Wallace James Hood Sr.

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11½", Weight 160 lb.
• Debut April 15, 1920
• Final Game April 22, 1922
• Born February 9, 1895 in Whittier, CA USA
• Died May 2, 1965 in Hollywood, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Wally Hood entered professional baseball in 1916 as a right-handed pitcher for the Vancouver Beavers of the class B Northwestern League. His first year shows a 10-16 record while appearing in 33 games. Vancouver had him on the mound again in 1917 and he went 2-7 in 12 games and also appeared in the outfield for several games. He fielded 77 chances and also had a total of 198 at-bats with 52 hits for a .263 average.

Wally was out of baseball in 1918 and returned for the 1919 season with the Moose Jaw Robin Hoods of the class C Western Canada League, appearing in the outfield only, and hit at a .316 clip in 67 games. The major league Brooklyn Robins acquired Wally and he made his major league debut on April 15, 1920, appearing in seven outings with 2 hits in 14 at-bats. The Robins sold Wally to the Pittsburgh Pirates in July of this same season. He appeared in just two games with the Pirates before they moved him to the Sacramento Senators of the Pacific Coast League, where in the remainder of the year he would hit for a .307 average in 111 games.

Hood appeared back with the Brooklyn club for the 1921 season where he hit .262 in 65 at-bats. He would show again with the 1922 Robins, appear in two games, and then spent the rest of the season with the Seattle Indians of the Pacific Coast League, hitting .316 with 11 home runs in 134 outings. Wally never returned to the big leagues, winding up his time there with a .238 average in 68 games.

Wally would spend the next six seasons (1923-1928) with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League, where he hit double-digits in home runs all six years, with a high of 27 in 1925. He was also over the .300 hitting mark in four of the years, with his highest mark coming in 1923 at .340. Hood played two more years in pro baseball, in 1929 with the Reading Keystones and with the Seattle club again, and then finished out his 13-year minor league run with Sacramento. His minor league hitting stats show that he appeared in 1,553 games, hitting at a .309 clip in 5,688 at-bats. He was elected to the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame in 2014.

After his playing career, Wally served as an umpire in the Pacific Coast League from 1935 to 1943. He also worked as an electrician until his death from emphysema on May 2, 1965, at his home in Hollywood, CA. Wallace James Hood, Sr. was 70 years old. He was the father of Wallace James Hood, Jr., a pitcher for the New York Yankees in 1949.

Related Sites

• Wally Hood at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Minors page