Donnie Moore

Note: This page is for 1970s and 1980s pitcher Donnie Moore; for others with similar names click here.

Donnie Ray Moore

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.
• School Ranger College
• High School Monterey High School (Lubbock)
• Debut September 14, 1975
• Final Game August 7, 1988
• Born February 13, 1954 in Lubbock, TX USA
• Died July 18, 1989 in Anaheim, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"I was throwing fastballs and Henderson was fouling them off, so I went with the split-finger, thought maybe I'd catch him off guard, but it was right in his swing." - Donnie Moore, after Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS

Pitcher Donnie Moore was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the secondary phase of the January 1973 amateur draft, and made his debut with them on September 14, 1975 at home against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cubs lost that game 13-7 but Moore didn't pitch terribly in the 2 2/3 innings he appeared in. He stayed with Chicago until 1979 and then bounced around with the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers before landing with the Atlanta Braves in 1982. In 1984, Moore was attacked by Graig Nettles in possibly the most intense brawl in major league history in a game against the San Diego Padres. Nettles went after Moore for hitting him with a pitch, which was a common occurrence between the two teams that day.

Moore then went to the California Angels and was one of the top relievers in baseball in 1985 and 1986, saving 52 games over those two seasons. However, in the 9th inning of Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS, with his team on the verge of winning the series, Moore gave up a two-out home run to Dave Henderson of the Boston Red Sox. The Angels lost the game in extra innings, and Boston went on to capture the series in seven games. Moore was not the same pitcher after that and played just two more seasons in the majors. After being cut by the Angels, he played for the Omaha Royals in 1989 before being released in June. The next month, Moore committed suicide with a gun after shooting his estranged wife, who survived the shooting. In an interview in 2001, Moore's wife revealed that he would physically abuse her every time something would go wrong in his life, and said that was the reason she left him. Former teammate Don Sutton recalled that Moore was more or less a sweet man who he never would have imagined had such a dark secret.

He was a cousin of fellow ballplayer Hubie Brooks.

Notable Achievements

• AL All-Star (1985)
• 30 Saves Seasons: 1 (1985)

Further Reading

• John Kuenster: Heartbreakers: Baseball's Most Agonizing Defeats, Ivan R. Dee Publishers, Chicago, IL, 2001. ISBN 978-1566634120
• John Poff: "Donnie Moore - A Racial Memoir", Elysian Fields Quarterly, Vol. 14, Nr. 1, 1995.

Related Sites

• Top 100 Angels page
• Just a Game? The tragic story of Donnie Moore, by Steve Hofstetter