The Saga of Donnie Moore
Lesser Charges
We lived for a couple of years (2007-2009) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was writing blogs during my stay there and I plan to send some of them to you this year. This is one of them. I wanted to get across the idea that athletes (in this case, baseball players) are not just archetypes, heroes and villains, but mostly people who have a specific talent and are trying to make a living at it.
Donnie Ray Moore, born February 13, 1954 in Lubbock, Texas, was a .500-ish righty pitcher (43-40) during his 13-year career with five teams. Moore, sporting a newly-found split-finger fastball, came into his own as a reliever with the California Angels in 1985 and '86. The turning point in his career, and in his life, came in Game Five of the ALCS against the Red Sox in 1986. The Angels, playing at home in front of more than 64,000 fans, were leading the series three games to one and entered the ninth inning with 5-2 lead.
Mike Witt had gone eight good innings but when he gave up a leadoff single he should have been outta there. Manager Gene Mauch let him pitch to Jim Rice, whom he strikes out, but the next batter, Don Baylor, hits it out and it's a 5-4 ballgame. Mauch keeps Witt in the game, a far worse move than letting him pitch to Rice because Witt might have been tired but he was pitching with confidence and a three-run lead. Now Dwight Evans is up, who hit 385 homers in his career. Witt is no longer confident because it's only a one-run game and he has just been taken yard. Now he really has to come out, righty-righty or not. Okay, Witt gets Evans to pop up. That, however, doesn't change the badness of Mauch's non-pitching change. Not one iota. Mauch has finally gotten to a left-hand hitter, Bosox catcher Rich Gedman. Now he can take out Witt and bring in his lefty, Gary Lucas. Lucas' first pitch plunks Gedman. If Lucas gets Gedman, The Angels win the pennant! The Angels win the pennant! The Angels win the pennant! and even more significantly, Donnie Moore never enters the game.
But Donnie Moore did enter the game after Lucas hit Gedman. On a 2-2 pitch to Dave Henderson, one strike away from what would've been the Angels' only pennant and trip to the World Series, Henderson hits a two-run homer off Moore to put the Red Sox ahead, 6-5. Moore finished the inning, and the Angels even tied it in the bottom of the ninth, but the Red Sox went on to win in the 11th inning after Moore loaded the bases [Wait a minute: Donnie Moore a) is still in the game? and b) has a manager (Gene Mauch) who is letting him load the bases?], then gave up a sacrifice fly which drove in what proved to be the game-winner. The Red Sox won the next two games in Fenway Park to win the pennant.
Moore took it hard. Very hard. On July 18, 1989, after a long period of despondence, Moore shot his wife, attempting to kill her (she barely survived), then turned the gun on himself and fired, in front of their son.