Jamie Moyer

Lore & Background

Moyer attended Souderton Area High School in Souderton, Pennsylvania, where he played baseball, basketball, and golf. In his junior year of baseball, he had a 10–0 win–loss record and threw three consecutive no-hitters. Moyer enrolled at Saint Joseph's University and played college baseball for the Saint Joseph's Hawks baseball team. In 1984, he set the school's single-season records in wins, with 16, earned run average (ERA), with 1.99, and strikeouts, with 90. In 1997, he was one of three inductees into the first class of the Saint Joseph's Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2018, he became the only Saint Joseph's baseball player to have his jersey number, number 10, retired.

Reader's Guide

The Chicago Cubs selected Moyer in the sixth round of the 1984 amateur draft. Moyer was selected a New York–Penn League All-Star in 1984. He made his major league debut with the Cubs on June 16, 1986, against Steve Carlton and the Philadelphia Phillies, and earned his first win. On August 16, he threw his first shutout against the Montreal Expos.

He was also the starting pitcher for the Cubs on the day that Greg Maddux made his major league debut. In 1987, Moyer ranked tenth in the National League in strikeouts with 147, while winning 12 games and losing 15. He also lost 15 games in 1988 against only nine wins. Despite his poor record, Moyer lowered his ERA to 3.48 (it had been 5.10 in 1987), and while he struck out fewer batters than he had in the previous year, he decreased his walk rate significantly, giving only 55 batters a base on balls as opposed to 97 in the previous year.

Following his then-best season in 1988, the Cubs traded Moyer, Rafael Palmeiro, and Drew Hall to the Texas Rangers for Mitch Williams, Paul Kilgus, Curtis Wilkerson, Steve Wilson, Luis Benitez, and Pablo Delgado. Moyer was on the disabled list with a sore left shoulder for much of a disappointing 1989 season. In 1990, Moyer spent time in the bullpen before regaining a spot in the starting rotation. Moyer was released as a free agent after the 1990 season and was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals.

He made seven starts for the Cardinals in 1991 before being sent to the minor leagues on May 24. He was released on October 14. In 1992, Moyer attended spring training with the Chicago Cubs, but was released and spent the rest of the season in the minor league system of the Detroit Tigers. On December 18, 1992, Moyer signed with the Baltimore Orioles.

Moyer began the 1993 season in the Oriole minor leagues before being called up on May 30. He tied his career-high total in wins with 12 and set a new career-low ERA of 3.43. The strike-shortened 1994 season saw his ERA rise to 4.77, but he was third on the Orioles' staff in innings pitched. In 1995, Moyer again found himself in the Baltimore bullpen, but worked his way back into the starting rotation. Moyer was signed by the Boston Red Sox on January 2, 1996. Moyer appeared in 23 games for Boston, making 10 starts.