About Wally
Moon:
After Retirement
|
 |
The Dodger's 1965 World Series victory
over the Minnesota Twins brought
Wally to another turning point in
his life. After a distinguished
12 year big league career, it was
time to turn his attention to raising
his five children and pursuing other
career goals. In the small northwest
town of Siloam Springs in his native
Arkansas, Wally found the right
place to raise kids and to continue
his love affair with baseball.
Wally spent the next dozen years
as Athletic Director and Baseball
Coach at John Brown University,
a small, non-denominational Christian
university whose motto of "Head-Heart-Hand"
and emphasis on education, faith,
and work were also the guiding
principles of the Moon family.
In the fall of 1976, Wally purchased
the San Antonio franchise in the
AA Texas League. Son, Wally Joe,
moved to San Antonio to head the
family operation and Wally, Bettye,
and the two girls still at home
moved down a year later. After
four years of minor league baseball
operation, Wally sold the franchise
and moved into private real estate
development eventually opting
to re-locate to College Station,
Texas, home of his alma mater
of Texas A&M.
In 1986, baseball's siren call
sounded once again for Wally as
he returned to organized baseball
as a special coach with the AAA
Springfield Cardinals, then on
to the Yankees organization as
a minor league manager, and finally
to the Baltimore Orioles where
he served both as a minor league
manager and as a special hitting
instructor. Bettye retired from
public school teaching in 1993
and joined Wally on the road as
they travelled up and down the
eastern seaboard while Wally worked
with young players on the nuances
of hitting a baseball.
Then, in 1996, after nearly 50
years of traveling in professional
and collegiate baseball, Wally
and Bettye settled once and for
all back in the Bryan-College
Station area, where you'll find
them today, near family and the
many friends they'd made in a
life devoted to baseball. It was
a long way from Craighead County,
Arkansas, but Wally Moon was finally
"home" for good.
|
