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
Biographical Information[edit]
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[edit]
- 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[edit]
* Baukol Playoffs based on last 30 days of the season
Sources[edit]
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.
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