Wally Joyner
| Wally Joyner | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First baseman | |||
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Born: June 16, 1962 Atlanta, Georgia |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 8, 1986, for the California Angels | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| June 14, 2001, for the Anaheim Angels | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .289 | ||
| Home runs | 204 | ||
| Runs batted in | 1,106 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
Wallace Keith "Wally" Joyner (born June 16, 1962) is a retired Major League Baseball player. He played for four major league teams during a 16-year career, most notably for the California Angels, for whom he was an All-Star. He was a member of the pennant-winning 1998 San Diego Padres.
Joyner attended Redan High School in Stone Mountain, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. He attended college at Brigham Young University.
He credited a stint with the Mayagüez Indians of the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League as fundamental in his improvement as a slugger. Then-batting coach José Manuel Morales forced him to do power weight training and modify his posture at the batting cage as to develop upper body strength. He was consequently the top hitter on Puerto Rico's winter league on the 1985–86 season, winning the Triple Crown (.356, 14 HR, 48 RBI) in 54 games.
During his rookie season in MLB with the California Angels, Joyner became a fan favorite and briefly inspired a sensation in which Anaheim Stadium was dubbed "Wally World". The film National Lampoon's Vacation had featured a fictional theme park by that name, and the Angels' proximity to Disneyland may also have helped inspire the moniker. Additionally, ESPN announcer Chris Berman famously called him Wally "Absorbine" Joyner, a nickname that stuck.
Joyner was the starting first baseman in the 1986 All-Star Game, becoming the first rookie to be voted into the All-Star Game by the fans. Joyner tied Darryl Strawberry for first place in that year's Home Run Derby.
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