Posts Tagged ‘Charlie Moore’
My Favorite Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Player Ever, Charlie Moore, Dies at 72
Folks, this is a hard blog to write.
When I was young, my mother went up to a young catcher, Charlie Moore, and told him how much he’d meant to me and that I just loved his play. I was too shy to go up to tell him myself, you see…I was at that gawky stage, and I just didn’t want to be seen or talked to. (Yes, even me.)
Charlie was classy, and he had a sense of humor. He clearly saw me, hiding behind my mother, but he said, “I hope she’s legal.”
I laughed, but still didn’t come out from behind my mother.
Anyway, he ended up signing my baseball card, he signed a glove for me, and he signed a t-shirt. I wish I had all three of those things now. (The glove got lost during an early move. The baseball card was inadvertently sold, put in with a bunch of cards into a rummage sale by someone who wasn’t me — not sure which family did this, but I know my mother apologized for it when she realized. The t-shirt, I outgrew, but kept for at least fifteen years. Where it went after that, I don’t know.)
Charlie was the type of guy who would do anything for anyone, and as a player he just exemplified the term “unselfish.” One year, they’d traded for Ted Simmons, a future Hall of Famer, at catcher. Charlie knew he couldn’t compete with Simmons; no one could. While he talked with Simmons about the pitchers and who liked to throw what when (Bob Uecker, announcer extraordinaire and also a former catcher, did this as well), Charlie knew he’d better learn a new position to stay on the team.
He did.
It wasn’t easy for him, but he learned how to play the outfield in spring training (this was either 1980 or 1981). He became one of the best right fielders in baseball, because he knew how to position himself from all the catching he’d done, and his arm was quite strong.
Many people, with their condolences to the Milwaukee Brewers on their Facebook page, have mentioned the most famous play Charlie ever made, that being throwing out Reggie Jackson in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) at third base from right field. (It wasn’t shallow right, either.) Jackson thought he could take an extra base on Charlie, and Charlie wasn’t having it.
The first things I thought of, though, were when he hit for the cycle in 1980 (that’s when you hit a single, double, triple, and homer, all in the same game) and also stole two bases, and when he broke up a no-hit bid by Nolan Ryan, hitting a triple.
See, Charlie was just a lot faster than most catchers. (He hadn’t taken up the outfield, then.)
With his characteristic wit, Charlie said once that he’d not have been able to learn the outfield in today’s day and age, not with YouTube. He’d have been too embarrassed to try.
I find that hard to believe, because Charlie was just the type of guy who’d do whatever was needed. You needed him to catch? He caught. You needed him to play right field? He played right field. Whatever he needed to do, he did.
Ted Simmons once said of Charlie that Charlie was “the best guess hitter I ever saw. Others might hit a single. He’d hit a homer.”
All in all, Charlie Moore was the full package. He could run, hit, throw, take an extra base, used his intelligence to keep him relevant in the baseball world by changing positions, and was a kind-hearted man to boot.
Other tributes that came in on the Milwaukee Brewers official Facebook page pointed out times Charlie helped someone, either by staying extra time to sign autographs, by bringing them something that the fan had won in a contest (bringing it to their home, mind you, without fanfare and without attitude), and so on.
All I can say is this: When I was young, if I could have had a boyfriend, Charlie Moore would’ve been it. I’m proud that I have always seen Charlie Moore as the best Brewers unsung hero, as my absolute all-time favorite player because of his grittiness and heart, and I still remember the banners my mother and I made to put in the bleachers once:
They said, “We want Moore of Charlie.”
Amen.
Milwaukee Brewers Catcher George Kottaras Hits for Cycle
Tonight, Milwaukee Brewers catcher George Kottaras hit for the cycle. He’s only the seventh Brewer to have done so, and is the third catcher behind Charlie Moore (who did so in 1980) and Chad Moeller (who did so in 2004) to have attained this feat. Kottaras is also the first major leaguer to have done so in 2011.
Now, for you non-baseball fans out there, “hitting for the cycle” means that Kottaras hit a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game. It is exceptionally difficult to do, and happens only rarely. (For example, Corey Hart nearly hit for the cycle a few weeks ago, but didn’t quite get it. And my favorite minor league player, Vinny Rottino of the New Orleans Zephyrs, nearly hit for the cycle this year but didn’t quite make it, either.)
Here’s a player analysis of the six Brewers (before tonight’s game) who hit for the cycle, in case you’re interested: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/392627-player-analysis-the-six-brewers-who-have-hit-for-the-cycle
Here’s part of what the Bleacher Report article has to say about Charlie Moore, the second Brewers player overall to do so:
Moore reached the cycle on Oct. 1, 1980 . . . According to Baseball-Reference.com, Moore pounded out four hits in a 10-7 win against the California Angels. Moore went 4-for-5, knocking in three runs and scoring three times.
A bit later, the same article observes:
Moore’s career spanned 15 seasons and 1,334 games. He finished with 1,052 hits, 408 RBI, and a .261 lifetime batting average.
During his time with the Brewers, Moore played multiple positions. As a right fielder in ’82, Moore posted an impressive .992 fielding percentage, second best in the American League.
I was young in 1982, but I remember Moore’s play very well; he was an outstanding defensive outfielder, a good defensive catcher, and a very good contact hitter when he was on. He is by far my favorite Brewers player because he maximized his ability every time he went out onto the field; he was the type of guy who had no “quit” in him, and I greatly respected that.
Now, Chad Moeller is another story; while Moeller is an excellent defensive catcher, no one could ever say that Moeller’s added much with his bat except for one evening in 2004 — April 27, 2004 to be exact.
Here’s what the same Bleacher Report article has to say about Moeller:
Moeller reached the accomplishment by going 4-for-5, with four RBI and one run scored.
A bit later, the B/R article states:
Moeller spent three seasons in Milwaukee (2004-06), splitting time at catcher with Gary Bennett and Damian Miller. The year Moeller hit for the cycle, he played in 101 games, the most by far in his career.
Moeller is a career .226 average hitter, while Moore, over fifteen seasons, hit for a career .261 batting average — very solid hitter, Moore. But as the B/R article says, the “stars aligned for Moeller” and he did, indeed, hit for the cycle.
Now, as for Kottaras . . . to date, he’s a career .219 hitter with some power in his bat and has greatly improved, defensively, in the past year or two since he came to the Brewers. Kottaras, entering tonight’s game, was hitting .241; because he’s played sparingly, his excellent game tonight raised his average to .273 with 4 HRs and 14 RBI in 88 official at-bats in only 38 games. (Kottaras plays once a week or so, mostly because he is Randy Wolf’s “personal catcher.”)
In tonight’s game, Kottaras started instead of Jonathan Lucroy perhaps so Lucroy could rest a bit, as Lucroy has caught a great many games this year (116 to date). His start obviously paid off for Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, and for the Brewers as a whole.
I like Kottaras; he’s a scrappy hitter with some power and speed to him, and he fights for every at-bat he gets. I wouldn’t have said, before tonight, that it would be likely that Kottaras would hit for the cycle as he’s received very little playing time; for example, Charlie Moore played in 111 games in 1980, batting .291 with 2 HRs (one of ’em being in that “cycle” game), 30 RBI, 10 SBs and 42 runs scored, so Moore had more opportunities to get his cycle in during the 1980 season than Kottaras has had this year.
That being said, Kottaras is now in rarefied company, as among the seven people who’ve hit for the cycle are Brewers Hall of Fame players Robin Yount (SS-CF) and Paul Molitor (3B-DH) along with Moore, Moeller, Mike Hegan (who hit the very first cycle in Brewers history) and Jody Gerut (who hit for the cycle last year).
Congratulations!
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