Moore to the World Series story

Baseball’s World Series begins on Tuesday, which makes this a good day to remember Wilcy Moore.

The Oklahoma farm boy was a 30-year-old rookie when he pitched in the Fall Classic 90 years ago this month.

The 1927 Yankees are still considered one of the greatest teams in baseball history. Led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, they won 110 games during the regular season before sweeping Pittsburgh in the Series. The unheralded superstar of the season and the playoffs was the right-handed, side-arming Moore, who won 20 games, including the World Series clincher, and had the lowest earned run average in the American League.

There is a local angle to Wilcy Moore’s story. After his retirement in 1933, he purchased farmland in Bailey County. His nephew, also named Wilcy Moore, grew cotton on that land for decades and still lives in Muleshoe.

But the best story about the elder Moore involved a $300 bet with his roommate Ruth.

There are two versions of the bet.

Fred Glueckstein, writing for the Society of American Baseball Research, reported Ruth was betting that his friend, a terrible hitter, would not get three hits all year.

On Aug. 26, 1927, the Yankees played the Detroit Tigers. “To the Babe’s shock, when Moore came to the plate, he swung on a pitch that slowly rolled down the third baseline, which Moore beat out for his third hit of the season,” Glueckstein wrote. “The Babe shook his head in disbelief in the dugout while the other Yankees, who knew about the bet, all laughed hysterically.”

In the other version of the story, The Associated Press reported the bet was whether or not Moore would hit a home run, which he did on Sept. 16, 1927, off of Chicago’s Ted Blankenship. Ruth “fell off the bench” when he hit it, AP reported.

Moore’s Major League Baseball career lasted six seasons. He won 51 regular-season games, losing 44, saving 49, and recording a 3.70 ERA. He pitched in two World Series, appearing in three games, winning two, saving one and recording a 0.56 ERA.

As a hitter, his lifetime batting average was .102, and he had just the one home run. He struck out 97 times in 205 career at bats.

Both versions of the bet stories, by the way, end the same. Ruth paid up and Moore used the money to buy two mules for his farm. He named one Babe, the other Ruth.

He plowed with those mules for about 10 years. Then he sold them and bought a tractor.

David Stevens is editor for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]

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