Dennis Martin Walling (born April 17, 1954) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

player. Walling played all or parts of 18 seasons in the majors, from 1975 to 1992. His most frequent position was

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, but he also saw significant time as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. Walling may be best known as a pinch-hitting specialist for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

. 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 Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

.271 with 799 hits in 2,945 lifetime

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s with 49

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 380 RBI in 1,271 games. Walling served as the hitting coach for the

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

, the Triple-A affiliate of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

before

Butch Davis Paul Hilton "Butch" Davis Jr. (born November 17, 1951) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Florida International University. After graduating from the University of Arkansas, he became an assistant co ...

Amateur career

Walling grew up in

Farmingdale, New Jersey Farmingdale is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 1,329,Howell High School in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

. Walling played college baseball at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

. He was drafted by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

in the 8th round of the 1974 Major League Baseball Draft, but chose to remain at Clemson. He was then drafted in the secondary phase of the 1975 draft by the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

Professional playing career

Oakland

Walling began his professional career as an outfielder. Just three months after being drafted by the A's, and before he appeared in a game in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in N ...

, Walling made his major league debut on September 7, 1975. He appeared in six games for Oakland down the stretch, getting one

in eight at bats for a batting average of .125. Walling opened the next season in the minors with the

Chattanooga Lookouts The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...

, 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

for outfielder

Willie Crawford Willie Murphy Crawford (September 7, 1946 – August 27, 2004) was a professional baseball outfielder. He played with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1964–1975), St. Louis Cardinals (1976), Houston Astros (1977) and Oakland Athletics (1977) of Major ...

, 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 The Charleston Charlies were a Triple-A minor league baseball team located in Charleston, West Virginia. Two separate Charlies franchises played in the International League from 1971 to 1983. The team was the relocated Columbus Jets. In 1977 the f ...

. 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 (.286 average) 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 The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...

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 (.276 vs. righties, .236 vs. lefties) and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

(.399, .330). Statistically, his best year was , when he set career highs in several categories, most notably in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s (13) and RBI (58) 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

on August 31 for

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

Bob Forsch. In Game 2 of the 1981 National League Division Series, Walling hit a walk-off single against the Dodgers.

Cardinals

Walling played two and a half seasons in St. Louis, mostly as a pinch hitter. While he batted .304 in in 79 at bats, he batted just .220 in , and was allowed to become a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

at the end of the season.

End of career

Going into , Walling signed with the Texas Rangers. However, he went just 4-for-44 in 27 games, for a batting average of just .091. He had just one double and three singles among his hits, and had just 2 RBI. He was released by the Rangers in June, and did not play professionally for the rest of the season. In , Walling briefly attempted a comeback with his longtime team, the Houston Astros. However, he batted just three times with one hit before retiring.

Coaching career

After his playing career ended, Walling remained in baseball as a coach. In the major leagues, he has served as the

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...

for the Athletics from until , and for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

from until . In both positions, he served under

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

Art Howe Arthur Henry Howe Jr. (born December 15, 1946) is an American former professional baseball infielder, coach, scout, and manager, who appeared as a player in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates (–), Houston Astros (–), and ...

, who was his teammate in Houston.ESPN article announcing Walling's firing
/ref> In , he was hired by the Orioles as their roving minor league instructor and later became the hitting coach for the

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walling, Denny 1954 births Living people Baseball players from New Jersey Brookdale Jersey Blues baseball players Oakland Athletics players Houston Astros players Howell High School (New Jersey) alumni St. Louis Cardinals players Texas Rangers players Oakland Athletics coaches New York Mets coaches Major League Baseball third basemen Major League Baseball first basemen People from Farmingdale, New Jersey People from Neptune Township, New Jersey Sportspeople from Monmouth County, New Jersey Major League Baseball hitting coaches Chattanooga Lookouts players San Jose Missions players Charleston Charlies players Tucson Toros players Oklahoma City 89ers players Senadores de San Juan players