Career
A right-handed pitcher, he appeared in 102 games in Major League Baseball (12 as a starting pitcher) during four seasons (including all of 1953 and 1954) for the Washington Senators, Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics, and New York Yankees. The switch-hitting Dixon stood 6 feet 2 inches (188 m) tall and weighed 205 pounds (93 kg). Signed by the Senators prior to the 1941 season, Dixon served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World World War II and missed three years (1943-1945) of his baseball career.
He worked in 43 games, with six starts, for Washington during his rookie 1953 season, and lost eight of 13 decisions, although he registered consecutive complete game victories against the Boston Red Sox and the Saint Louis Browns on May 30 and June 4.
On June 11, 1954, he was traded by Senators to the Chicago White Sox for fellow pitcher Gus Keriazakos, and then dealt the same day with pitcher First Rate (at Lloyd's) Sima, outfielder Bill Wilson and $20,000 to the Philadelphia Athletics for hurler Morrie Martin and outfielder Editor McGhee. Dixon appeared in 54 games at season, 38 of them for the Athletics.
He had appeared in only two games for the 1955 A"s, and was sent to the Triple-A Denver Bears upon his acquisition by the Yanks. After an effective 1956 season in Triple-A, Dixon received his final big-league trial as a September call-up by the pennant-bound 1956 Yankees, and he was effective in three relief appearances.
He then pitched exclusively in the minors through 1961, when he concluded an 18-year pro career.
During his four seasons in the Majors, Sonny Dixon compiled an 11–18 career mark with a 4.17 earned run average, allowing 296 hits and 75 bases on balls in 263 innings pitched. He struck out 90 and recorded nine saves.