A Home Run, a Suicide, and a Myth

Today is the birthday of Donnie Moore, born February 13, 1954, in Lubbock, Texas. 

Moore spent 13 years in the majors as a closer for five teams. His best season came in 1985, when he posted a 1.92 ERA, recorded 31 saves, and made the All-Star team.

But the violent nature of Moore’s end overshadows his entire career.

In 1989, out of baseball after a year in the minors, struggling with injuries, and facing down a failing marriage, Moore shot his wife, Tonya, three times with a .45 before turning the gun on himself — all in front of their children. 

Three years earlier, on October 12th, 1986, Moore had been called to the mound to close for the Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS. The Red Sox trailed 5-4 in the ninth, with two outs and a man on first. His first two pitches to Dave Henderson were strikes. Henderson then fouled off two more. Angels catcher Bob Boone then called for an off-speed splitter. Moore’s pitch didn’t break. Henderson crushed it into the left field stands to put Boston ahead, 6-5. 

The Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, but lost in the 11th. They then flew to Boston, where they dropped the final two games of the series.

After Moore’s suicide in 1989, his agent, Mike Pinter, told reporters: “He could not live with himself after Henderson hit the home run…that home run killed him”. 

Baseball had placed so much blame on Moore for the ALCS loss that Pinter’s explanation seemed to many a given. But the true story wasn’t as clean. Moore had struggled with depression and substance abuse for years. His relationship with his wife, who he’d been with since high school, was punctuated with violent fits of jealousy and abuse — dating back to when she was just 19.

Twenty-five years after Moore gave up the fateful home run, novelist Kevin Baker reflected on the myth surrounding the end of his life:

"As fans, we continue to believe that we can impose our agonies upon [athletes], that we can so hound them with their mistakes and failures that they can never escape from them."

He continued:

“When it comes to the game, the mental toughness that enabled them to excel in the first place usually allows them to go on. It’s the rest of life that can be too much — as it can be for all the rest of us.”

Throwing Shade in Spring Training

• Bregman to the Red Sox – One of the last remaining pieces of the free agent puzzle slots into place in Fenway. A source tells The Athletic that Bregman, who has only ever played with the Houston outfit will reunite with former Astros bench coach and current Sox manager Alex Cora. The contract is worth $120 million, runs three years, and has opt-outs for every year.

• Ohtani on the Mend – Since tearing his labrum in the 2024 World Series, Shohei Ohtani has undergone surgery, and has told reporters he’ll be ready to return to the mound in May. He’s expected to throw his first bullpen sessions this weekend, and is already throwing pitches on flat ground.

• Training in the Shade – Aaron Boone shared some of his thoughts on the gloating he heard from some of the Dodgers during the off-season. “They have that right to say whatever. Hopefully, we’re in that position next year and handle things with a little more class.”

• Pivoting West — Former Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta has agreed to a four-year, $55 million dollar contract with the San Diego Padres. The sign will help the San Diego club will help add depth to their already solid rotation with Dylan Cease, Yu Darvish and Michael King.

The Negro League is Born

• 1920 — Rube Foster, a former player and manager of the Chicago American Giants led a meeting at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri, where team owners came together to form the Negro National League.
  
  The slogan of the new league: “We Are the Ship, All Else the Sea”.
  

• 1974 — James “Cool Papa” Bell, a star in Foster’s Negro League — and so fast it was said he’d flip off a light and hop into bed before the room got dark — is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.