John ‘Doc’ Yallaly to be honored with hall of fame induction

A local legend is being honored for his distinguished career with American Legion Baseball Post 63.

John ‘Doc’ Yallaly is set to be inducted into the American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame.

A celebration of Doc’s induction is scheduled from 12:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at American Legion Post 63 in Cape Girardeau.

The family is inviting anyone who is interested to come by and show their appreciation for Yallaly during the open house.

Yallaly began playing baseball while a student at Cape Central High School.

His love for baseball would continue upon joining the army 1953.

Searching for a way to forget about being homesick while serving, Doc made the Camp Gordon Georgia baseball team in 1955.

“I’d say the highlight of my career was making that Camp Gordon team,” Yallaly said.

As a tryout to make the Camp Gordon team, you got five pitches to swing at to make an impression.

“I hit four pitches out of five over the fence,” Yallaly said. “It was a miracle. I wasn’t a home run hitter.”

During his time on the Camp Gordon team, Yallaly played with Joe Durham, who played for the Baltimore Orioles and later the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yallaly also played against many other major leaguers during his time playing for Camp Gordon. Those players include Vinegar Bend Mizell, Billy O’Dell, Norm Siebern and Taylor Phillips.

In 1956, Yallaly began his illustrious coaching career with the American Legion Baseball team.

He joined on as a pitching coach and even got to coach alongside his brother who was an assistant coach.

Yallaly quickly elevated from pitching coach to manager with the Legion team and thus began his successful career at the helm of the program.

John 'Doc' Yallaly throws up his hands after being mentioned in a speech during a news conference Jan. 19, 2018, at the SportsPlex in Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

During his 40 years of coaching, Yallaly led his teams to two state championships, one in 1973 and the other in 1994.

Yallaly has coached countless players and generations of families who have gone on to be successful during his 40 years coaching.

One of those players was Mark Hogan. Hogan was manager of the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks baseball program for 18 seasons and is now the general manager and director of baseball operations for the Cape Catfish.

“I had an incredible experience with Doc and the American Legion program when I was growing up in Cape,” Hogan said. “It influenced me to the point that my love for baseball came from the experiences with a guy like him. I made a career out of something that he showed me could be fun.”

In 1996, Yallaly had his number retired by Post 63 as he stepped down from coaching and entered a general manager position that he is still in to this day. He has put in 67 years of work to Post 63.

Yallaly has done a little bit of everything in his baseball career from player, to manager, to pitching coach, to general manager to even an agent.

“I liked coaching the best,” Yallaly said.

The celebration of Yallaly’s induction is from 12:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at American Legion.

Light refreshments including ham sandwiches will be provided as an homage to the lunches Yallaly and his players used to have during their games.