Gene Moriarty

Eugene John Moriarty

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 130 lb.

• Debut June 18, 1884
• Final Game October 15, 1892
• Born January 6, 1863 in Holyoke, MA USA
• Death May 18, 1904 in St. Louis, MO USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Gene Moriarty was sometimes wrongly called Gene Moriarity during his career. An outfielder and sometimes pitcher, he made his big league debut with the Boston Beaneaters in 1884 and also played for the Indianapolis Hoosiers that season. He was with the Detroit Wolverines in 1885, then was out of the big leagues until popping up again with the St. Louis Browns in 1892­, playing 47 games, his highest total. He hit only .175 that season, but it was still an improvement over his previous two tries, as his career average was .152. Not surprisingly, he was let go after that season, never to play in the majors again. As a pitcher, he suffered losses in both of his decisions for Indianapolis in 1884, and pitched one another time in relief for Detroit the following year.

Moriarty was then a mystery man for over a century. While his origins as part of a large family in Holyoke, MA are well documented in census records, it was not clear what had happened to him after he had moved to St. Louis in 1892. The Sporting News stated that he would spend the winter there after the season, but there was no trace of him in later city records. In 2013, researcher Kyle Decicco-Carey, working at the behest of SABR's Peter Morris, managed to track him down thanks to a brief note in the Springfield Republican of May 23, 1904, which reported his death in St. Louis, MO a few days earlier (Springfield, MA is located close to Holyoke). Another SABR researcher, Bill Carle, was then able to find a cemetery record in St. Louis with this information, indicating Moriarty had died around May 18, 1904 (an actual death certificate is still missing) and was buried at St. Peter Cemetery in the Gateway City.

Further Reading

• "Eugene Moriarty Found", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, November/December 2013, p. 1.