Patrick Joseph Moran (February 7, 1876 – March 7, 1924) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Mod ...
player
Player may refer to:
Role or adjective
* Player (game), a participant in a game or sport
** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games
** Athlete, a player in sports
** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...
and
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
. He was a
catcher
Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...
in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
from 1901 to 1914. The year after his retirement, he became a manager, and he led two teams to their first-ever modern-era
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
championships: the
1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
*January 1 ...
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
and the
1919
Events
January
* January 1
** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
. Moran was the first manager to win National League pennants with two different teams. Moran's 1919 Reds also captured their first
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
championship.
Playing career
A native of
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Fitchburg is a city in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The third-largest city in the county, its population was 41,946 at the 2020 census. Fitchburg is home to Fitchburg State University as well as 17 public and private e ...
, Moran played 819 games over 14 National League seasons for the
Boston Beaneaters
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most po ...
(1901–05),
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...
(1906–09) and Phillies (1910–14). A right-handed hitter, he
batted .235 with 18
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s and 262
RBI. In , he finished tied for second in the league in home runs with seven. After he did not appear in more than 100 games in a season. However, as a second-string catcher, Moran became a student of the game and especially of
pitching. In 1913–1914, he was a player-
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
and, guided by his support and counsel, Phillies right-hander
Grover Cleveland Alexander
Grover Cleveland Alexander (February 26, 1887 – November 4, 1950), nicknamed "Old Pete", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played from 1911 through 1930 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Cardinals. He ...
developed into one of the greatest pitchers of all time.
Philadelphia Phillies' manager
Moran retired as a player after the season, and was immediately promoted to manager of the Phillies. The club had finished sixth in 1914 and was plagued by defections (and threatened defections) to the outlaw
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...
. Moran swung some astute trades, acquiring key players
Dave Bancroft
David James Bancroft (April 20, 1891 – October 9, 1972) was an American professional baseball shortstop and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Robi ...
(a
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
r like Alexander),
Bert Niehoff
John Albert Niehoff (May 13, 1884 – September 8, 1974) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played for four clubs from the 1913 to 1918 seasons. He batted and threw right-handed.
Playing career
A native of Louisville, Colorado, N ...
and
Milt Stock
Milton Joseph Stock (July 11, 1893 – July 16, 1977) was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball from 1913 through 1926. The Chicago native played for the New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Brooklyn Robins and St. Louis Cardin ...
.
[Leavitt, Daniel R.: ''Pat Moran,''](_blank)
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...
Biography Project Then—led by Alexander's 31 wins and the slugging of
right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...
Gavvy Cravath
Clifford Carlton "Gavvy" Cravath (March 23, 1881 – May 23, 1963), also nicknamed "Cactus", was an American right fielder and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball who played primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. One of the sport's most ...
—the Phils improved by 17 games and won their first NL
pennant. In the
1915 World Series
The 1915 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1915 season. The 12th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Boston Red Sox against the National League champion Philadelphia Philli ...
, they were defeated four games to one by the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
.
The Phillies then finished second in successive years, to the
Brooklyn Robins
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...
in and the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
in . With baseball disrupted by World War I (and with the December 11, 1917, trade of Alexander to the Cubs) the Phillies sank below .500 in and Moran was fired.
Cincinnati Reds' manager
Moran was not unemployed for long, however.
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
manager
Christy Mathewson
Christopher Mathewson (August 12, 1880 – October 7, 1925), nicknamed "Big Six", "the Christian Gentleman", "Matty", and "the Gentleman's Hurler", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher, who played 17 seasons with the New York Giant ...
, the former pitching great, had been stricken with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
from exposure to
poison gas
Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal dose) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious or perman ...
during military maneuvers. When it was apparent that Mathewson was too sick to return for the season, Moran was named his successor. The Reds had finished third, games behind, in 1918. Under Moran, they won 96 of 140 games in an abbreviated 1919 schedule to take the flag by nine games. They then defeated the
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...
in the
1919 World Series
The 1919 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1919 season. The 16th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. ...
five games to three to win Cincinnati's first undisputed world championship.
This should have been Moran's crowning accomplishment. But when it was charged that seven key members of the White Sox had conspired with gamblers to "throw" the series—the infamous
Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate led ...
—the Reds' achievement was somehow tarnished. (The seven White Sox players were acquitted in a controversial 1920 trial but were nonetheless expelled from baseball.) In the wake of the scandal, Moran, his players and many baseball experts furiously asserted that Cincinnati would have won the series under any circumstances.
Moran remained at the helm in Cincinnati during the early 1920s. Apart from a poor campaign, the Reds fielded contending ballclubs but did not return to the World Series. The club finished second in both and . While spending the winter of 1923–24 at his Fitchburg home, Moran was taken ill. He was able to report to the Reds' training camp in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
, but his condition worsened and he died there at the age of 48. The cause of death was listed as
Bright's Disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied b ...
, a
kidney
The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...
ailment, but some baseball historians ascribe Moran's fatal illness to
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
.
[Jaffe, Chris (2009): ''Evaluating Baseball Managers: Pat Moran,''](_blank)
The Hardball Times
The Hardball Times (abbreviated as THT) is a website which publishes news, original comments and statistical analysis of baseball each week Monday through Friday, in addition to the Hardball Times Annual book which features essays by leading sabe ...
Goldman, Steven (2008): ''You Could Look It Up: 1915, the Year of Nothing,''
Baseball Prospectus
Baseball Prospectus (BP) is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well as player and team perf ...
Moran won 748 games and lost 586 (.561) as a National League manager over nine seasons, and he has the most wins for any manager in a nine season span. He won six and lost seven World Series games. ''The Hardball Times
The Hardball Times (abbreviated as THT) is a website which publishes news, original comments and statistical analysis of baseball each week Monday through Friday, in addition to the Hardball Times Annual book which features essays by leading sabe ...
,'' wrote that Moran "might be the most underrated manager in baseball history ... he managed only nine seasons before dying over 80 years ago. However, in that brief stretch Moran was clearly on pace for Cooperstown
Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...
."
References
External links
Leavitt, Daniel R., ''Pat Moran,''
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...
Biography Project
The Deadball Era
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, Pat
1876 births
1924 deaths
Baseball managers
Baseball players from Massachusetts
Boston Beaneaters players
Chicago Cubs players
Cincinnati Reds managers
Cortland (minor league baseball) players
Deaths from nephritis
Lyons (minor league baseball) players
Major League Baseball catchers
Montreal Royals players
Philadelphia Phillies coaches
Philadelphia Phillies managers
Philadelphia Phillies players
Sportspeople from Fitchburg, Massachusetts
World Series-winning managers