Raymond Leroy Moore (June 1, 1926 – March 2, 1995) was an American right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

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), ...

who played for the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

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 ...

, and Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins from 1952 to 1963. A fastballing right-hander, Moore was nicknamed "Farmer" and "Old Blue". He was tall and he weighed .

Baseball career

Born in Meadows, Maryland, Moore was originally signed by the Dodgers in 1947. He spent almost six full years in the minors, and made his major league debut on August 1, 1952 at the age of 26.

Orioles and White Sox

Moore, who today wouldn't be considered a "control specialist" as he walked as many as 112 batters in a season, was used both as a reliever and starter in his career, starting mostly during his time with the Orioles, to whom he'd been traded for

Chico García Vinicio "Chico" García Uzcanga (December 24, 1924 – August 17. 2007) was a Mexican second baseman in Major League Baseball. He played for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1954 season. Listed at 5' 8", 170 lb., García batted and threw right ...

on October 8, 1954. He also started a large number of games one year with the White Sox. He was involved in a blockbuster deal when he was sent to the White Sox, being traded with

Tito Francona John Patsy Francona (November 4, 1933 – February 13, 2018) was a Major League Baseball player. As a child, he was nicknamed "Tito" by his father. His son, Cleveland Guardians manager Terry Francona, is also sometimes referred to as "Tito." Bal ...

and

Billy Goodman William Dale Goodman (March 22, 1926 – October 1, 1984) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) infielder who played 16 seasons for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, and Houston Colt .45s, from 1947 through 1962. Go ...

for Hall of Famer

Larry Doby Lawrence Eugene Doby (December 13, 1923 – June 18, 2003) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who was the second black player to break baseball's color barrier and the first black pl ...

, Jim Marshall, Russ Heman and

Jack Harshman John Elvin Harshman (July 12, 1927 – August 17, 2013) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the New York Giants, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, and Cleveland Indians between 1948 and 1960. He batted and threw ...

. Perhaps his best season as a starter was 1956, while with the Orioles. That year, Moore posted a 12–7 record with a 4.18 ERA. He also completed nine games that season, a career high. He also had the ninth best hits allowed per nine innings ratio in 1956, with a ratio of 7.83:9. On June 28, 1957, Moore threw the White Sox' fourth consecutive shutout, which set an

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

record. Overall that year, he went 11–13 with a 3.72 ERA. Moore saw the only postseason action of his career as his White Sox battled the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in the

1959 World Series The 1959 World Series featured the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers beating the American League champion Chicago White Sox, 4–2. Each of the three games played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum drew record crowds, Game 5's atte ...

. Moore only appeared in one inning in the World Series, striking out one and giving up a hit-a home run by

Chuck Essegian Charles Abraham Essegian (born August 9, 1931) is an American former professional baseball left fielder. He appeared in 404 games in Major League Baseball (MLB) over six seasons (1958–1963) for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, L ...

Senators/Twins

He was purchased from the White Sox by the Senators in June of 1960, and it was with the Senators and Twins (the Senators relocated to Minnesota after 1960) that he became one of the better closers in the league, ranking from 1960 to 1962 third, fourth and seventh in the league in saves, respectively. Moore finished up his career in 1963, playing his final game on September 6 against the

, striking out the last batter he faced –

Cam Carreon Camilo Carreón (August 6, 1937 – September 2, 1987) was an American professional baseball player. The catcher appeared in 354 games over all or parts of eight Major League Baseball seasons between and for the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Ind ...

. Overall, he was 63–59 with 560 walks and 612 strikeouts in 1072 innings. He completed 24 of the 105 games he started, shutting out five of them. Overall, he appeared in 365 games, saving 46. Moore had a total of six home runs in his career, with as many as three in a season. In 1956, he hit .271 in 70 at-bats. Overall, his batting average was .187 with 56 hits in 299 at-bats. He struck out 99 times and walked seven times in his entire career. He had a .946

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

in his career. Moore died in 1995 in

Clinton, Maryland Clinton is an unincorporated census-designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Clinton was formerly known as Surrattsville until after the time of the Civil War. The population of Clinton was 38,760 at the 2020 cens ...

. He is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in

Suitland, Maryland Suitland is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Prio ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Ray 1926 births 1995 deaths Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Maryland Brooklyn Dodgers players Chicago White Sox players Fort Worth Cats players Greenville Spinners players Greenwood Dodgers players Major League Baseball pitchers Minnesota Twins players Montreal Royals players People from Prince George's County, Maryland St. Paul Saints (AA) players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players