Pat Moran

For other people named Pat Moran, seePat Moran (disambiguation).

Pat Moran
Catcher/Manager
Born:(1876-02-07)February 7, 1876 Fitchburg, Massachusetts,U.S.
Died:March 7, 1924(1924-03-07)(aged 48) Orlando, Florida,U.S.
Batted:Right Threw:Right
MLB debut
May 15, 1901, for the Boston Beaneaters
Last MLB appearance
June 30, 1914, for the Philadelphia Phillies
MLB statistics
Batting average	.235
Home runs	18
Runs batted in	262
Managerial record	748–586
Winning %	.561
Teams
As player Boston Beaneaters(1901–1905) Chicago Cubs(1906–1909) Philadelphia Phillies(1910–1914) As manager Philadelphia Phillies(1915–1918) Cincinnati Reds(1919–1923)
Career highlights and awards
2×World Serieschampion (1907,1919)

Patrick Joseph Moran(February 7, 1876 – March 7, 1924) was anAmericanprofessional baseballplayerandmanager.He was acatcherinMajor League Baseballfrom 1901 to 1914. The year after his retirement, he became a manager, and he led two teams to their first-ever modern-eraNational Leaguechampionships: the1915Philadelphia Philliesand the1919Cincinnati Reds.Moran was the first manager to win National League pennants with two different teams. Moran's 1919 Reds also captured their firstWorld Serieschampionship.

Playing career

A native ofFitchburg, Massachusetts,Moran played 819 games over 14 National League seasons for theBoston Beaneaters(1901–05),Chicago Cubs(1906–09) and Phillies (1910–14). A right-handed hitter, hebatted.235 with 18home runsand 262RBI.In1903,he finished tied for second in the league in home runs with seven. After1904he did not appear in more than 100 games in a season. However, as a second-string catcher, Moran became a student of the game and especially ofpitching.In 1913–1914, he was a player-coachand, guided by his support and counsel, Phillies right-handerGrover Cleveland Alexanderdeveloped into one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

Philadelphia Phillies' manager

Moran retired as a player after the1914season, and was immediately promoted to manager of the Phillies. The club had finished sixth in 1914 and was plagued by defections (and threatened defections) to the outlawFederal League.Moran swung some astute trades, acquiring key playersDave Bancroft(aBaseball Hall of Famerlike Alexander),Bert NiehoffandMilt Stock.Then—led by Alexander's 31 wins and the slugging ofright fielderGavvy Cravath—the Phillies improved by 17 games and won their first NLpennant.In the1915 World Series,they were defeated four games to one by theBoston Red Sox.

The Phillies then finished second in successive years, to theBrooklyn Robinsin1916and theNew York Giantsin1917.With baseball disrupted by World War I (and with the December 11, 1917, trade of Alexander to the Cubs) the Phillies sank below.500 in1918and Moran was fired.

Pat Moran batting for Chicago Cubs, 1908

Cincinnati Reds' manager

Moran was not unemployed for long, however.Cincinnati RedsmanagerChristy Mathewson,the former pitching great, had been stricken withtuberculosisfrom exposure topoison gasduring military maneuvers. When it was apparent that Mathewson was too sick to return for the1919season, Moran was named his successor. The Reds had finished third,15+1⁄2games behind, in 1918. Under Moran, they won 96 of 140 games in an abbreviated 1919 schedule to take the flag by nine games. They then defeated theChicago White Soxin the1919 World Seriesfive games to three, to win Cincinnati's first undisputed world championship.

This should have been Moran's crowning accomplishment, but it would later be marred by theBlack Sox scandal.In1920,it was charged that eight key members of the White Sox had conspired with gamblers to "throw" the series. (The players were acquitted in a controversial 1921 trial but were nonetheless expelled from baseball.) In the wake of the scandal, Moran, his players and many baseball expertsfuriously asserted that Cincinnati would have won the series under any circumstances.

Moran remained at the helm in Cincinnati during the early 1920s. Apart from a poor1921campaign, the Reds fielded contending ballclubs but did not return to the World Series. The club finished second in both1922and1923.While spending the winter of 1923–24 at his Fitchburg home, Moran was taken ill. He was able to report to the Reds' training camp inOrlando, Florida,but his condition worsened and he died there at the age of 48. The cause of death was listed asBright's Disease,akidneyailment, but some baseball historians ascribe Moran's fatal illness toalcoholism.

Moran won 748 games and lost 586(.561)as a National League manager over nine seasons, and he has the most wins for any manager in a nine season span. He won six and lost seven World Series games.The Hardball Timeswrote that Moran "might be the most underrated manager in baseball history... he managed only nine seasons before dying over 80 years ago. However, in that brief stretch Moran was clearly on pace forCooperstown."

External links

• Career statistics and player information fromBaseball Reference,orBaseball Reference (Minors)
• Pat Moran managerial career statisticsatBaseball-Reference
• Leavitt, Daniel R.,Pat Moran,Society for American Baseball ResearchBiography Project
• The Deadball Era
• Pat MoranatFind a Grave