Vander Wal made his major league debut with the Expos on September 6, , and finished his first season with 13
hits in 61
at-bats for a .213
batting average. Vander Wal played two more seasons in
Montreal before moving on to the
Colorado Rockies in , where he would spend all of four seasons and part of another, although he never recorded more than 151 at-bats or appeared in 105 games in any of those seasons. On August 31, , he was traded to the
San Diego Padres for a
PTBNL. He went on to appear in the
World Series with the Padres, recording two hits in five at-bats. Vander Wal spent in
San Diego before moving on to the
Pittsburgh Pirates in a trade that brought
Al Martin to the Padres. While playing for the Pirates, he posted his best season, appearing in 134 games, and batting .299 with 24
home runs and 94
RBI. In , Vander Wal was traded to the
San Francisco Giants, who later traded him to the
New York Yankees for
Jay Witasick. Vander Wal was a part-time performer for the Yankees in , before moving on to the
Milwaukee Brewers in , and the
Cincinnati Reds in , where he recorded just 6 hits in 51 at-bats for a .118 average. Vander Wal played 14 seasons in the major leagues. 13 of these seasons were with
National League clubs, where the
pinch hitter was a much more widely used tactic prior to adoption of the
designated hitter. In 1372 games over 14 seasons, Vander Wal posted a .261
batting average (717-for-2751) with 374
runs, 170
doubles, 18
triples, 97
home runs, 430
RBI, 38
stolen bases, 385
bases on balls, .351
on-base percentage and .441
slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .987
fielding percentage playing at right and left field and first base. In 16 postseason games, he hit .286 (6-for-21) with 2 runs, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 home run and 4 RBI. On February 10, , Vander Wal was named a
scout for the
San Diego Padres and held that position until 2016. ==Achievements==