The ‘Phillies 50’ series pitching entry for the 1988 team was an American college player who was never drafted. Instead, the Phillies signed Colorado native right-hander Brad Moore as an amateur free agent in June 1986.
After pitching well in 1987 at High-A Clearwater than then in a brief nine-game cameo with Double-A Reading, Moore enjoyed a solid season back in Reading during the 1988 campaign.
With the Phillies in need of a healthy arm during the second half of June 1988, Moore got the call to the big-leagues at just age 24.
It was on June 14, 1988 during a blowout 9-0 defeat to the visiting Montreal Expos in the first game of a doubleheader at Veterans Stadium that Moore first took the mound.
Starter Bruce Ruffin had been roughed up by the Montreal bats for six runs on eight hits, and facing Expos’ ace Dennis Martinez there was little hope of a Phillies rally.
Moore threw a double play ball to the first batter he faced, Casey Candaele, with second baseman Juan Samuel flipping to shortstop Steve Jeltz who fired on to first baseman Von Hayes. That got the Phillies out of the top of the 4th inning.
In the 5th, Moore allowed a double and then walked a batter with one out. But once again the pitcher’s best friend, the double play ball, got him out of the jam. Once again that grounder went Samuel to Jeltz to Hayes.
Manager Lee Elia left him out for the 6th inning and Moore surrendered singles to the first two Montreal batters. Following a sacrifice bunt he then intentionally walked future Hall of Famer Tim Raines. That brought Candaele up once again, and you know what happened? Yup. Third straight inning-ending double play ball, once again from Samuel to Jeltz to Hayes.
Keith Miller pinch-hit for Moore in the bottom of the 6th, bringing to an end his first-ever appearance in Major League Baseball. He had surrendered three hits and walked two batters, but kept the Expos off the scoreboard thanks to those three twin killings.
Moore would make four more appearances that month, all of them scoreless relief appearances. He would not return again to the big-leagues that summer, and in fact would see just three more appearances in the majors at all, those coming in April of 1990.
With a career pitching line that reveals he allowed just one earned run and eight hits over 8.1 innings across eight games, you would think that Moore might have gotten a longer look at some point. It never happened.
Granted free agency in October 1990, Moore signed on with the New York Mets. He appeared in 50 games with their Triple-A Tidewater club in both 1991 and 1992, but again never received a call to the majors. The same story repeated itself in stints at Triple-A with the Cincinnati Reds organization in 1993 and the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1994.
After traveling overseas and appearing in a pair of games in the Chinese Professional League in that summer of 2004, Moore finally called it a career.
In retirement, Moore got into coaching. He is now the pitching coach with the Mountain View High School program (three-time Colorado 4A State Champions) back in Colorado from which he graduated two sons in 2009. Now 56-years-old, he spends much of his free time golfing, camping, and fishing.
MATT VEASEY 