Balor Moore

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Balor Moore

|position=Pitcher

|image=

|caption=

|bats=Left

|throws=Left

|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1951|1|25}}

|birth_place=Smithville, Texas, U.S.

|death_date=

|death_place=

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=May 21

|debutyear=1970

|debutteam=Montreal Expos

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=August 6

|finalyear=1980

|finalteam=Toronto Blue Jays

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=28–48

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=4.52

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=496

|teams=

Montreal Expos ({{baseball year|1970}}, {{Baseball year|1972}}–{{Baseball year|1974}})
California Angels ({{baseball year|1977}})
Toronto Blue Jays ({{Baseball year|1978}}–{{Baseball year|1980}})

}}

Balor Lilbon Moore (born January 25, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in the major leagues as a left-handed pitcher between 1970 and 1980. Moore was the first player drafted by the Montreal Expos expansion team in the 1969 Major League Baseball draft (22nd overall). He also pitched for the California Angels and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Expos phenom

Moore went a combined 9-1 with a 0.41 earned run average in the Gulf Coast League and Florida State League in his first professional baseball season, at the Rookie and High A levels. After going 3–0 with a 0.72 ERA for the High A West Palm Beach Expos to start the {{baseball year|1970}} season, Moore made the jump all the way to the Triple A Buffalo Bisons. He made his major league debut at the age of 19 on May 21, 1970 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He faced one batter, Willie Stargell, who lined out to left field.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI197209160.shtml|title=Montreal Expos 7, Pittsburgh Pirates 6|publisher=Baseball-Reference.com|date=May 21, 1970}} Moore pitched a total of 9.2 innings in the majors that season, going 0–2 with a 7.45 ERA.

Moore struggled in {{baseball year|1972}}, going 2–11 with a 6.33 ERA for Triple A Winnipeg. After a year in the army, Moore went 5–3 with a 0.63 ERA for the Double A Quebec Carnavals in {{baseball year|1972}} to earn a second promotion to Montreal.

Montreal Expos

Moore was roughed up in his first four starts, going 0–3 with a 6.45 ERA. He turned his season around on July 14 with a complete game 9–1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN197207140.shtml|title=Montreal Expos 9, Los Angeles Dodgers 1|publisher=Baseball-Reference.com|date=July 14, 1972}} From there, Moore went 9–6 with a 2.94 ERA, including a 25 inning scoreless-inning streak broken on September 16 by Philadelphia Phillies rookie Mike Schmidt's first major league home run.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI197209160.shtml|title=Philadelphia Phillies 3, Montreal Expos 1|publisher=Baseball-Reference.com|date=September 16, 1972}} For the season, the left-hander made 22 starts and struck out 161 hitters in 147.2 innings.

That winter he pitched a perfect game for San Juan in Puerto Rico, the first nine-inning perfect game in that league's 36-year history.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IZoeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=t8wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5376,1632768&dq=balor+moore+puerto+rico&hl=en|author=Brade Willson|date=February 19, 1974|title=Foli Only Expo to Go to Arbitration|publisher=Daytona Beach Morning Journal}} Moore's record dipped to 7–16 in {{baseball year|1973}}, mostly due to an increase in walks (109 compared to 59 the previous season). Still Moore struck out an average of 7.71 batters per nine innings, second in the National League, and held batters to a .233 batting average, tenth in the league.

Later career

Moore injured his ankle during spring training in {{baseball year|1974}}, and his arm early in the season.{{cite web|url=http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060607&content_id=1493576&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826162546/http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060607&content_id=1493576&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=was|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 26, 2010|author=Michael Walsh|date=June 7, 2006|title=No Moore regrets for first Montreal pick|work=MLB.com}} He went 0–3 with a 10.20 ERA in six rehab appearances with the Triple A Memphis Blues before undergoing major elbow surgery during that off-season.

Moore returned in {{baseball year|1975}}, although he never attained the same form.

He was 1–3 with a 4.00 ERA for Memphis when his contract was sold to the California Angels. Moore earned a September call-up to the Angels in {{baseball year|1977}}, going 0–2 with a 3.97 ERA. After just one season in California, Moore's contract was sold to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Moore spent the final three seasons of his career with the Blue Jays, going 12–17 with a 4.96 ERA. He pitched four innings to earn the only save of his career on April 27, {{baseball year|1980}} against the Milwaukee Brewers.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL198004270.shtml|title=Toronto Blue Jays 8, Milwaukee Brewers 2|publisher=Baseball-Reference.com|date=April 27, 1980}} He spent {{baseball year|1981}} in the minors with the Brewers and Houston Astros before officially retiring.

Career stats

class="wikitable"

|PCT

|ERA

|GS

|CG

|SHO

|SV

|IP

|ER

|HR

|BB

|WP

|HBP

|Fld%

|48

|.368

|4.52

|180

|98

|16

|718.1

|704

|361

|408

|80

|365

|496

|28

|30

|.874

Moore had a 40–58 record and 4.01 ERA in eleven minor league seasons.

References

External links

{{Baseballstats|mlb=119286|espn=1061|br=m/mooreba02|fangraphs=1009090|brm=moore-001bal}}, or [https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=mooreba02 Baseball Almanac], or [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/M/Pmoorb101.htm Retrosheet]

Category:1951 births

Category:Living people

Category:Baseball players from Bastrop County, Texas

Category:American expatriate baseball players in Canada

Category:Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players

Category:California Angels players

Category:El Paso Diablos players

Category:Florida Instructional League Expos players

Category:Gulf Coast Expos players

Category:Major League Baseball pitchers

Category:Memphis Blues players

Category:Montreal Expos players