Murderer's Row and Wilcy Moore

[DOUGHBOYS]

A lot of folks think the 1927 New York Yankees were the best team ever assembled in baseball. Of course, this can never be proved right or wrong since there are so many factors that go into a 'Best Team Ever', the largest of which would be personal opinion.
The '27 Yankees were called 'Murderer's Row'. In the '20's, baseball writer's overstated most everything. Take for instance, Wally Pipp, a few years earlier. Miller Huggins benched three of his regulars the day that Wally Pipp supposedly had his 'headache' or 'didn't feel well', whatever story was heard. The truth of the matter was that Pipp was floundering. He had already been lowered in the lineup by Huggins and on the day Gehrig took over, Huggins was desperate to get more bang in his lineup. There was no mention of Pipp being ill in the papers the next day or the next few days. Nobody knows exactly when the 'Headache' or 'getting Pipped' started, but soon everybody took it as truth. Wally Pipp even partially lived off the story when his playing days were over. He would use the story on a speech circuit. And to this very day, we use the Pipp name when somebody gets replaced.

Anyway, 'Murderer's Row' mainly consisted of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Along with Tony Lazzeri, they were the only three that even had double digit home runs. But just to put things in perspective, Lazzeri's 18 home runs was still good enough for eighth in the league.
Ruth had 60. Gehrig had 47. Nobody else in baseball had over 30 and only four other players had over 20. The game of baseball was still going through change. A lot of folks thought that the clouting of home runs was a fad. Something that would pass once the brutes left the game. To many, the game was supposed to be almost devoid of strike outs with the Willie Keeler mantra of 'hit 'em where they ain't'.
Ruth's comeback for the Keeler argument was 'Never let the fear of striking out get in your way'.
And the argument raged.

Gehrig and Ruth combined hit more homers than any other four batters in baseball that year. And they did it with hardly a day off. You see, even on days off, the Yankees would still have a game. Owners never missed a trick back in the day. Exhibitions would be played in smaller towns so that the rest of the world could see the spectacle that was 'Murderer's Row. The scheduling of exhibitions was not exclusive to this team. Most teams had to play in these exhibitions.
Ruth and Gehrig were also expected to play in these games. They were the drawing card.

In 1927, the Yankees had an unsung hero. A 30 year old rookie. A pitcher that will never get his due. After all, he finished his career with a measly 204 strike outs.
Wilcy Moore, with Ruth and Gehrig cancelling each other, may have been the Most Valuable Player on the Yankees that year. Certainly, if there were a 'Rookie of the Year, the 30 year old would have won the award.
Wilcy Moore was not an ace. He was an ace up Miller Huggins sleeve. Anytime the Yankees needed a win, Huggins would bring Moore to the mound.
It might be a game that was tied 5-5 in the third inning. It might be to finish the game in the ninth. Or, it may be to start the next days game.
He may have been the most used non-starter in baseball. Moore only started 12 games that year. Still, he amassed 213 innings pitched.
He won 19 games. He saved 13 more. He led the league in E.R.A. at 2.28
Day to day, Moore had no idea whether he'd be throwing one inning or nine. A few pitches or over 100.
He was a pitcher that we can't fathom in today's game.
A pitcher that can complete six games as Moore did, and still close a game the next day.
A go-to pitcher.

Moore was a one hit wonder of sorts.
He never came close to repeating what he did with the 1927 Yankees. He did pitch in another World Series for the Yankees in 1932. He was nothing if not a money pitcher in those World Series. He went 2-0 in those Two World Series, and Saved another game, with an E.R.A. of 0.56

For all his pitching attributes. Moore was a terrible hitter. Even getting laughs from the Yankee regulars. Babe Ruth would make a bet with Moore. The bet itself is in dispute by historians. Some say it was whether Moore would get three hits during the season, some say, hit a home run. The money bet was Ruth's $300 to Moore's $15.
Moore, a career .102 hitter won the bet either way. He would hit his only career homer that year and ended up with six hits in 75 at bats.
When Moore won the bet, the Yankee dugout exploded and Ruth was subject to a lot of pats on the back and backhanded jeers from the players. Ruth loved the taunts and retorted that it would be a 'hot dog week for him, not steak'.
Moore, a farmer in the off season, would collect on the bet from Ruth and bought two mules for his farm.
He named one mule 'Babe', the other, 'Ruth'.

[JEagle]

Great story