Tommy Moore (baseball)

Tommy Joe Moore (July 7, 1948 – November 16, 2017) was a Major League Baseball pitcher.

Early years

Fresh out of John Glenn High School in Norwalk, California, Moore was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 28th round of the 1966 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. Seven months later, while a student at Cerritos College, the New York Mets drafted him in the tenth round of the January 1967 Secondary draft, and he signed.^[1]

While a student at Cerritos, he toiled around in the lower levels of the Mets' farm system, going 14-18 with a 3.59 earned run average until a standout 1972 season with the Mets' triple A affiliate, the Tidewater Tides. Moore went 11-5 with a 2.80 ERA to earn a September call-up to the big league club.^[2]

New York Mets

He made his major league debut in "mop up duty" following a poor outing by Gary Gentry. With the Mets already trailing 6-0 to the Chicago Cubs, Moore took the mound in the third inning. He successfully stopped the bleeding until the sixth inning. With one out, Billy Williams hit a home run. The next two batters followed with a double and a triple. A sacrifice fly and a ground out to the pitcher later, Moore escaped the inning a single shy of the cycle.^[3] He was far more successful in his second appearance, when he pitched two innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and only surrendered one single.^[4] He made his first start on October 2, and was in line for the 1-0 win when he exited the game in the eighth inning with one out, and runners on first & third. Former minor league teammate Ken Singleton drove in the tying run to give Moore the no-decision.^[5]

Moore spent most of 1973 with Tidewater, with the exception of a brief call-up in May for the injury riddled club. He suffered his first career loss against the San Francisco Giants in his last outing before returning to Tidewater.^[6] Following a 1974 season spent entirely at Tidewater, the Mets sent him & Ray Sadecki to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Torre.^[7]

St. Louis Cardinals

Cards manager Red Schoendienst did not seem to have much faith in Moore, as he was used strictly in mop up duty for the entirety of his two month stay with the club. Despite a respectable 3.86 ERA posted during his tenure in St. Louis, every time he was called upon to pitch, the Cardinals were already losing, and usually by several runs. On June 4, 1975, the Cardinals sent him & Ed Brinkman to the Texas Rangers for Willie Davis.

Texas Rangers

He had a similar role in Texas, however, after pitching 9.2 innings over five appearances, and only allowing one earned run, he was given more responsibility. He entered a save situation on July 28, but was unable to convert, and ended up taking a loss.^[8] A week later, despite pitching well, he suffered a hard luck loss on his record against the California Angels,^[9] and once again found himself in mop up duty for the remainder of the season. Moore spent all of 1976 with the Rangers' triple A affiliate, the Sacramento Solons.

Seattle Mariners

On October 24, 1976 his contracts was purchased by the expansion Seattle Mariners. His first appearance for the M's came on April 8, 1977 with the opportunity to save the franchise's first win. Ineffectiveness & sloppy play on the field prevented that from happening, however, his team did manage to come back in the ninth for the historic victory.^[10] On April 13, Moore earned his first career win. He entered an extra innings game against the Minnesota Twins with the bases loaded, and only one out. He retired the next two batters to end the threat, and pitched two more scoreless innings. In the bottom of the thirteenth, Steve Braun drove in Larry Milbourne with the winning run.^[11]

He lost his only start with the Mariners. Facing the Twins, Moore only allowed two hits through his first four innings. He then allowed a lone run in both the fifth & sixth inning before the wheels fell off in the seventh.^[12] On May 12, he earned his second, and final, career win against the New York Yankees.^[13] He would make just one more appearance before spending the rest of the season in the minors.

After the season, he & Carlos López were dealt to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Parrott, but he was cut during Spring training. Through four MLB seasons, he made 42 appearances, going 2-4 with 40 strike outs, 40 walks and a 5.40 ERA in 88 innings pitched.

References

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or The Ultimate Mets Database