Walt Dixon

Walter Edward Dixon

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 220-235 lb.

• Born November 25, 1920 in Mount Vernon Springs, NC USA
• Died September 25, 2003 in Florence, SC USA

BR Minors page

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 Middle 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 position 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 and 1965) through 1976. As a player, Dixon hit 206 home runs 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 organization.

Dixon also scouted for the Cubs from 1976 to 1989. He then moved to the New York Yankees as a scouting supervisor.

Career Highlights

• 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 Home runs six seasons in the minors
• Had over 100 RBI five seasons in the minors

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1949	Shelby Farmers	Western Carolina League	31-46	7th	none		replaced Harold Dedmon on June 3
1950	Shelby Farmers	Western Carolina League	47-63	7th	none
1951	Greenwood Tigers	Tri-State League	10-36	--	none	--	replaced by Mike Garbark on June 12
1952	Headland Dixie Runners	Alabama-Florida League	47-60	--	none	--	replaced by Hugh Kirkland on August 8
1953	Norton Braves	Mountain States League	63-63	6th	none
1954	Middlesboro Athletics	Mountain States League	48-34	1st	none	League disbanded on July 20
1955	Kokomo Giants	Mississippi-Ohio Valley League	61-57	--	New York Giants	--	replaced by Jack Milaskey on August 25
1956	Crestview Braves	Alabama-Florida League	51-69	5th	Chicago Cubs
1957	Lafayette Oilers	Evangeline League	36-21	--	Chicago Cubs	Team disbanded on June 20
	Magic Valley Cowboys	Pioneer League	42-32	6th	Chicago Cubs		replaced Burdette Thurlby (18-44) on June 23
1958	Burlington (IA) Bees	Three-I League	62-67	4th	Chicago Cubs
1959	Carlsbad Potashers	Sophomore League	72-54	2nd	Chicago Cubs	Lost League Finals
1961	Carlsbad Potashers	Sophomore League	51-65	5th	Chicago Cubs		replaced Lou Klein (4-6) on May 9
1962	San Antonio Missions	Texas League	68-72	5th	Chicago Cubs
1963	St. Cloud Rox	Northern League	51-69	6th	Chicago Cubs	4th 16-14*
1964	St. Cloud Rox	Northern League	54-68	5th	Chicago Cubs	4th 15-18*
1965	Quincy Cubs	Midwest League	69-50	2nd	Chicago Cubs	none
1966	Quincy Cubs	Midwest League	61-63	5th	Chicago Cubs
1967	Lodi Crushers	California League	63-77	6th	Chicago Cubs
1968	Quincy Cubs	Midwest League	59-59	5th	Chicago Cubs
1969	Quincy Cubs	Midwest League	64-55	3rd	Chicago Cubs	none
1970	Quincy Cubs	Midwest League	68-45	1st	Chicago Cubs	League Champs
1971	San Antonio Missions	Texas League	63-77	7th	Chicago Cubs
1972	GCL Cubs	Gulf Coast League	41-22	1st (t)	Chicago Cubs	none Co-Champs
1973	Quincy Cubs	Midwest League	61-64	7th	Chicago Cubs
1974	Midland Cubs	Texas League	65-73	6th	Chicago Cubs
1975	Key West Cubs	Florida State League	65-69	4th	Chicago Cubs	Lost in 1st round
1976	GCL Cubs	Gulf Coast League	36-17	2nd	Chicago Cubs	none
Totals	27 Seasons		1,509-1,547			2 League Championships

* Baukol Playoffs based on last 30 days of the season

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.