Denny Walling
Dennis Martin Walling is an American former Major League Baseball player. Walling played all or parts of 18 seasons in the majors, from 1975 to 1992. His most frequent position was third base, but he also saw significant time as an outfielder and first baseman.
Walling may be best known as a pinch-hitting specialist for the Houston Astros. Nicknamed "Good Wood", Walling was a valuable bat off the bench for most of his career. Entering the 2009 season, his 108 career pinch hits are tied for 13th all-time. He hit.271 with 799 hits in 2,945 lifetime at bats with 49 home runs and 380 RBI in 1,271 games. Walling served as the hitting coach for the Norfolk Tides, the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles before Butch Davis
Amateur career
Walling grew up in Farmingdale, New Jersey, and played baseball at Howell High School in New Jersey.Walling played college baseball at Clemson University. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 8th round of the 1974 Major League Baseball draft, but he chose to remain at Clemson. He was then drafted in the secondary phase of the 1975 draft by the Oakland Athletics.
Professional playing career
Oakland
Walling began his professional career as an outfielder. Three months after being drafted by the A's, and before he appeared in a game in the minor leagues, Walling made his major league debut on September 7, 1975. He appeared in six games for Oakland down the stretch, getting one hit in eight at bats for a batting average of.125.Walling opened the next season in the minors with the Chattanooga Lookouts, the A's Class-AA affiliate. After batting.257 in 115 games for Chattanooga, Walling was again in Oakland in September. This time, he played just three games, going 3-for-11 for a.273 average.
In, Walling was back in the minors to start the year, but played just three games for the Class-AAA San Jose Missions in the first two months due to injuries. On June 15, Walling was traded to the Houston Astros for outfielder Willie Crawford, who was playing his last season in the majors after a long career.
Houston
After being traded to the Astros, Walling was assigned to Class-AAA Charleston Charlies. He played 29 games for Charleston and batted.348. It would be the last time Walling played in the minor leagues for over a decade. He was once again promoted to the majors in September, this time playing in six games, going 6-for-21 with 6 RBI.In, Walling was the closest thing the Astros had to a regular left fielder, playing 49 games there, more than anyone else on the team. However, even then, he made more appearances as a pinch hitter than in the field, as he played only 55 of his 120 games as an outfielder. The Astrodome was a notoriously difficult place to be a batter, but Walling managed to be about an average major league hitter, posting an OPS+ of exactly 100. Overall, Walling batted.251 for the Astros, with 36 RBI.
Over the next ten seasons, Walling played much the same role on the Astros, generally playing only against right-handed pitchers. For his career, Walling batted seven times as often against righties as against left-handed pitchers, prompted perhaps by his significantly lower batting average and slugging percentage. Statistically, his best year was, when he set career highs in several categories, most notably in home runs and RBI while batting.312 in 130 games.
During this time, he shifted all over the field, playing good chunks of time at first base in, and, while playing mostly third base from until, when he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals on August 31 for pitcher Bob Forsch.
In Game 3 of the 1980 National League Championship Series, Walling hit a ball that was caught by the left fielder in a tie game of the 9th inning that gave the runner at third base enough room to score to win the game. It was the first walk-off postseason hit in Astros history. In Game 2 of the 1981 National League Division Series, Walling hit a walk-off single against the Dodgers, which was just the second walk-off postseason hit for the Astros in their history. It would be their last walk-off win until 1998.