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Mr. Moore was a special guest at a book event hosted by Georgia Center for the Book at the Decatur Library. "A Baseball Triple Play" featured writers Pete Van Wieren and Jack Wilkerson (Of Mikes and Men), Dave Cohen (Matzoh Balls and Baseballs: Conversations with 17 Former Jewish Major League Baseball Players) and Hal Jacobs (Ball Crazy) on August 10, 2010.
Mr. Moore was featured in the following article by Bill Banks about Strat-O-Matic, the baseball simulation board game, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (April 28, 2010):
James “Red” Moore has never heard of Strat-O-Matic, the baseball simulation board game that's maintained an astonishing cult following for nearly 50 years.
He certainly didn't know the company recently released a card set replicating the skills and statistics of 103 Negro League ballplayers who performed, mostly in obscurity, from 1896 to 1950.
But Moore, 93, knows quite a bit about those days, “when only the ball was white.” He was a virtuoso first baseman for three teams in the Negro majors from 1936 to 1941, including two years in Baltimore (1939-1940) when he roomed with a teenaged catching prodigy named Roy Campanella.
Likely because his tenure was so brief and because many of his statistics don't exist, Moore, who has lived in the same southwest Atlanta home for the last 62 years, isn't included in the Strat-O-Matic set. But 12 of his ex-teammates are here, including five who are enshrined at Cooperstown, along with one manager and at least 44 others he played against.
For anyone who has played this game over an extended duration, the individual Strat-O-Matic player card is a masterpiece of minimalist poetry. That single 3 by 5 rectangle assimilates a major league player's hitting, fielding, running and defensive statistics and what emerges, particularly to the imaginative gamer, is a palpable personality.
For Moore, however, many of these cards depict the actual flesh-and-blood men he knew, some quite well. For openers there's Satchel Paige, perhaps the greatest of Negro League pitchers, blessed with such immaculate control he'd warm up throwing fastballs over sticks of chewing gum instead of a plate.
Glancing over Paige's card Moore said, “Whoever did this got it right. Satch was right scarce [giving up] the walks and the home runs. People ask me all the time how I hit against Satch and I tell them, ‘Well, I sure enough hit against him plenty. But I never hit him.'"
The man who prides himself on “getting it right” is Hal Richman, now 74, who founded Strat-O-Matic out of his parents' Long Island basement in 1961. Even in today's graphics- and computer-drenched gaming culture, Richman's deceptively simple dice-and-cards cardboard game, with its uncanny statistical results, wields considerable influence.
In "The Numbers Game," his definitive 2004 book on the history of baseball statistics, Alan Schwarz references Strat-O-Matic on 21 pages, pointing out that in a 2002 poll of 50 baseball executives, “exactly half had learned the game (and particularly the value of On Base Percentage) in the large part by playing Strat-O-Matic.”
All of which Richman finds humbling, considering, as he admitted in a recent phone interview, that “I had average math skills in high school. I knew enough to keep baseball statistics and that's about it.”
For years Richman had vague notions about creating a Negro League set. But the task was daunting, he knew, since the Negro Leagues' entire history was plagued by shoddy record-keeping and slapdash organization.
Then about three years ago Richman, whose company and nine full-time employees are still located in Glen Head, N.Y., was contacted by Scott Simkus, a Chicago-area limousine dispatcher. Simkus told Richman he'd been collecting Negro League box scores since the mid-1990s, culling them from microfilm and digital versions of old black newspapers and even a few big-city white papers.
“By now I have close to 4,000 boxes,” Simkus said recently over the phone. “Our fundamental problem was that the Negro Leagues played an abbreviated schedule, only about 70 to 90 league games. Therefore we didn't have enough data to reproduce any one entire season, which is what [Strat-O-Matic] usually does.
“So we decided to sample statistics from a player's best five to seven seasons. We wanted to get a minimum 1,200 at-bats for each batter and 1,200 opposing at-bats against each pitcher. Once we got those numbers, we pro-rated them for a 154-game schedule. That way we came up with a standard statistical profile any baseball fan would be familiar with.”
Both Simkus and Richman acknowledge many pleasurable discoveries, like center fielder Oscar Charleston -- his pro-rated numbers are .391 batting average, .478 on-base percentage, 32 home runs, 125 RBI -- emerging as probably the set's best all-around player. Perhaps for both, the biggest surprise was right fielder/second baseman Chino Smith (.388, .425, 20, 118), baseball's version of Jimi Hendrix, who only played from 1925 to 1930 and died of yellow fever before his 30th birthday.
Red Moore, however, was particularly drawn to his Newark Eagles teammates, with whom he played in 1936 and 1937. He broke out his trademark grin when he saw the card representing right-handed Hall-of-Famer Leon Day (17-7, 2.78 ERA).
“I'll never forget this one game Leon was pitching,” Moore said. “It was a league game and it was late innings and it was tight. The batter hit a foul pop and I go toward the stands and try to make a behind-the-back catch. Don't ask me why. I would do those things, catch it between my legs and all that during exhibitions and warm-ups. I admit, I was known as a showman. But I'd never do it in a league game, except I did that day.
“So it hit off the heel of my glove and rolled out. That ballpark sounded like a funeral parlor. Well, Leon got the batter out and we won the game. But after the game he came up to me and said, ‘Red, if we'd lost that game I was gonna whup you good, boy.'"
Both Simkus and Richman agree that catcher Josh Gibson (.381, .457, 34,119) is the set's best all-around hitter. But Moore also remembers the Buena Vista, Ga., native for his rough-hewn verbal dexterity.
“My rookie year with Newark, we were playing against Pittsburgh,” Moore said. “Josh was catching and Satch was pitching. Josh says to me, ‘Hey little red boy, Satch don't like rookies. Only thing he likes about ‘em is to knock ‘em down.' So I feel this pitch – I sure enough don't see it – somewhere around my chin and when it hit Josh's mitt, it sounded like a pistol shot.
“I waved at it and Josh tells me, ‘That nearly got you, son. If I was you, I wouldn't dig in too deep.' Then there were two more like the first one. I never saw any of those balls. I struck out, I go back to the dugout and the manager says, ‘Seems like you were in a rush to get back here and sit next to me.'
“Like I said,” Moore adds with a low laugh, “I never did hit Satch.”
http://www.ajc.com/sports/strat-o-matic-cult-502472.html
See the YouTube video of Mr. Moore talking about batting against Satchel Paige.
On, Friday, April 16th, the Atlanta Braves invited Mr. Moore to be the special guest for Jackie Robinson Day and throw out the first pitch. On Thursday, he spoke at the Atlanta History Center for the Home School Day- Past Times event.
In February 2010, Mr. Moore attended the program announcing new hall-of-famers at the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame. He also spoke to the 8th grade students at Renfroe Middle School as a part of Black History Month Celebration (see Gallery for photos).
In November 2009, Mr. Moore visited Hartland Baseball Statues in Cleveland, Ohio, to sign his new series of statues. These autographed statues are number 9 in the Negro Legend Series and limited to 100 statues. <see photos from signing>
James Red Moore is featured in the new book The Baltimore Elite Giants (John Hopkins University Press) by Bob Luke. Mr. Moore is shown on the back cover of the book and featured in the book.
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Baseball fans, look for Mr. Moore's autographed card in the the 2009 Topps Allen Ginter Baseball Cards.
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See the May 17, 2009, article about Mr. Moore in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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On Wenesday, July 8, 2009, Mr. Moore will be a guest speaker at the Atlanta History Center, where he will meet with summer campers (age 6-11).
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On April 26, 2009, Moore was recognized by Georgia Common Cause as one of the 2009 Outstanding Citizens for his contribution to baseball, society and giving back to local schools and organizations.
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On February 20, 2009, Moore was a special guest at the Lithonia Middle School Black History Program.
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On February 15, 2009, Moore spoke about his Negro League playing days in the Roswell Roots Black History program (Roswell City Hall). See article below ("Atlanta Black Crackers player brings history to life," by Michael Pearson, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sunday, February 15, 2009).
Fourth-grader Donovan Bohannon showed up at Roswell 's City Hall Sunday to see Negro League baseball infielder James “Red” Moore and an exhibition of photographs featuring many of Moore 's teammates from baseball's segregated era.
“I never thought I'd be able to meet any of them,” said Donovan, a student at Hembry Springs Elementary School in Roswell . He and a few dozen other people came to meet the man who was known for putting on flashy fielding demonstrations before games.
For Donovan's father, Ken Bohannon, the event was an opportunity to show his kids that the opportunities now open to African-Americans weren't always available.
“They don't know how we got here,” he said.
Moore was born in Atlanta and, at age 92, still lives here. He played first base for the Atlanta Black Crackers, among other Negro League teams in the era before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 and became the first African-American to play for a major league team.
The Atlanta Black Crackers played home games at the old Ponce de Leon Park in Midtown Atlanta, the same field used by the white Atlanta Crackers.
Brenda Turner, a Marietta photographer, started the collection of Negro League players. She became fascinated by the history of African-Americans in sports when she stumbled across a pin featuring black gymnast Dominique Dawes at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
She was glad for the opportunity to show off her collection and to let people meet Moore, whom she called a “real hero.”
But she wishes Americans would give more attention to Negro League players and other African-American achievers during months other than February — Black History Month.
“It's sad to me that it constantly has to be tied into black history,” said Turner, who is herself African-American. “It's not just black history. It's American history.”
For his part, Moore is pleased for the run of attention he and the few other surviving Negro League players have been receiving in recent years.
He has been inducted into the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame, honored by a Georgia General Assembly resolution and drafted by the Atlanta Braves in an honorary draft for Negro League players.
“I'm just glad God's let me live this long to enjoy it,” he said.
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On February 7, 2009, James "Red" Moore and Jim Riley, Negro League historian, shared experiences from the Negro Leagues with 35 Magnolia Chapter Society for American Baseball Research members at
Turner Field.
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On January 31, 2009, Mr. Moore was honored by the Braves 400 Club for his contributions to baseball. The event took place at the Marriott Century Center in Atlanta.
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Recent School Visits. On October 18, 2008, Moore participated in the Southwest DeKalb Homecoming Parade. On October 22nd, he visited Allgood Elementary School and spoke to 100 fifth graders on the opening night of the World Series. On October 24th, he visited Fernbank Elementary in DeKalb County.
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From October 3-6, 2008, Moore attended the 16th Annual Pop Lloyd Weekend Celebration in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
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On September 9, 2008, Moore was honored by the Atlanta Braves with an on-field presentation.
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On July 5, 2008, the Milwaukee Brewers honored Moore at the third annual Negro Leagues Tribute and Cerveceros Day events at Miller Park. See press release (pdf file) for more information.
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PRESS RELEASE
June 18, 2008
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Former Negro League players to be honored at Mother Kathryn Daniels Conference Center
Former Negro League players Eugene ‘Dick' Scruggs and James ‘Red' Moore will be inducted into the “Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Foundation” Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 5, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. The induction ceremony will take place at the Mother Kathryn Daniels Conference Center (MKDCC), 3500 W. Mother Daniels Way at 35th and Hampton Avenue in Milwaukee.
Eugene ‘Dick' Scruggs, a right-handed pitcher with a major league curve ball at the age of 17, was born May 17, 1938, in Huntsville, Alabama. He spent two seasons playing in the Negro Leagues as a member of the Kansas City Monarchs and the Detroit Stars.
James ‘Red' Moore hails from Atlanta, Georgia. The top fielding first baseman in the Negro Leagues from the mid-30s to the mid-40s, he was born November 18, 1916 and spent time with the Chattanooga Choo Choos, Mohawk Giants, Atlanta Black Crackers, Newark Eagles, Indianapolis ABCs, Baltimore Elite Giants and the Macon Peaches.
Scruggs and Moore will receive the induction honor at the MKDCC and then travel to Mayfair Mall for an autograph signing session and then on to Miller Park for pre-game recognition on the field prior to the Brewers-Pirates game that evening The Brewers, Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and the MKDCC formed a partnership in 2006 to present the Negro Leagues Tribute and support other community-based initiatives.
“The worthy tradition of honoring these great men continues with our two new inductees,” said Billy Young, Executive Director of the Mother Kathryn Daniels Conference Center. “We are both humbled and elated to host their presence here in Milwaukee and extend our commitment another year in properly recognizing some of the greatest athletes of our time – athletes who were never allowed the deserved spotlight of national attention that is so rightfully theirs as athletes of excellence. The Negro League legacy will forever remain on our campus and in our memories.”
“We are overjoyed for this recognition and eternally grateful to the Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Foundation and the Mother Kathryn Daniels Center,” said Mr. Scruggs and Mr. Moore in a joint statement. “We are deeply appreciative of the hospitality provided by the Foundation and the Center in acknowledging our careers and our small contributions to the great game of baseball. Both Mr. Biddle and Bishop Daniels are to be congratulated and commended for their tireless efforts to preserving the legacy of the Negro Leagues and its remaining living players.”
“Our mission is to both acknowledge and support these men beyond their playing days,” said Dennis Biddle, Founder and Executive Director of the YNLBF and a Hall of Fame inductee himself. “We are totally committed to ensuring their contribution to the game does not go unrecognized and resources are found to assist in their twilight years.”
Later that day, both men will take part in the Milwaukee Brewers annual tribute to Negro League baseball while attending the Brewers game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Brewers will don the uniforms of the old Milwaukee Bears Negro League team while Pittsburgh will sport those of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, home to Negro League legends Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. Scruggs and Moore will address the crowd during pre-game ceremonies and sign autographs during the first three innings of the game.
In previous years, the Brewers recognized outfielder W. James ‘Jim' Cobbin and catcher Arthur Hamilton into the Yesterday's Negro League Hall of Fame in 2007. During the Brewers initial Negro Leagues Tribute in 2006, Buck O'Neil, James Sanders and Dennis Biddle were each recognized.
The Mother Kathryn Daniels Conference Center is located at 3500 West Mother Daniels Way on the corner of 35 th and Hampton Avenue in Milwaukee.
For more information about this event, please contact Billy Young at (414) 466-1800 ext. 5154.
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PRESS RELEASE
July 2, 2008
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Living Negro League legends to hold autograph session at Mayfair Mall
Former Negro League players Eugene ‘Dick' Scruggs and James ‘Red' Moore will sign autographs for the public at Mayfair Mall on Saturday, July 5, 2008 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. The autograph session will take place at Jeff's Sports, inside the main entrance of Mayfair Mall, 2500 N. Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
Mr. Scruggs and Mr. Moore will be in town to receive induction honors at the Mother Kathryn Daniels Center (MKDCC) earlier in the day and will then be recognized by the Milwaukee Brewers during the annual Negro League Tribute at Miller Park later that evening prior to the Brewers-Pirates game. The induction ceremony will be held at the MKDCC, 3500 W. Mother Daniels Way, Milwaukee, beginning at 11:00 a.m. The pre-game activity and on-field ceremonies will begin at Miller Park at 5:30 p.m.
Eugene ‘Dick' Scruggs, a right-handed pitcher with a major league curve ball at the age of 17, was born May 17, 1938, in Huntsville, Alabama. He spent two seasons playing in the Negro Leagues as a member of the Kansas City Monarchs and the Detroit Stars.
James ‘Red' Moore hails from Atlanta, Georgia. The top fielding first baseman in the Negro Leagues from the mid-30s to the mid-40s, he was born November 18, 1916 and spent time with the Chattanooga Choo Choos, Mohawk Giants, Atlanta Black Crackers, Newark Eagles, Indianapolis ABCs, Baltimore Elite Giants and the Macon Peaches.
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See article on Moore related to the MLB draft (below) -- "For Moore, Negro Leagues were big-time". Also, see MLB draft video (link to MLB site).
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http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080529&
content_id=2791806&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
Braves to pick Negro Leaguer Moore Former first baseman to be chosen in honorary draft
05/30/2008 10:35 AM ET
ATLANTA -- The Braves will pay tribute to James "Red" Moore, regarded as one of the best fielding first basemen in the Negro Leagues, when former Negro Leagues alumni are honored before the start of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on June 5. Each Major League club will select a surviving Negro Leagues player who never had a chance to play in the Majors. This special Negro Leaguers Draft will be aired live exclusively on BaseballChannel.TV.
Moore, who was born in Atlanta in 1916 and played in the Negro Leagues from 1936-40, played on three All-Star teams, three Second Half Championship teams and was selected to the 1938 Southern News Services All-American Negro League Baseball Team.
MLB.com will carry every pick of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, which takes place June 5-6 at The Milk House at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla.
Day 1 coverage on BaseballChannel.TV begins at 1 p.m. ET with a special ceremonial draft of former Negro Leaguers who will be on hand at The Milk House. The First-Year Player Draft follows at 2 p.m. with a simulcast of ESPN2's broadcast of the first round and compensation picks.
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As a 2006 inductee of the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame, Moore will attend the fourth annual induction and awards ceremony, to be held May 31, 2008, at the Emory Conference Center. Among this year's honorees is John Schuerholz of the Atlanta Braves.
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Moore recently visited the Chamblee High School baseball team, throwing out the first pitch and signing autographs afterwards (April 28, 2008). Enjoy this short video.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2008
BREWERS MEDIA RELATIONS
BREWERS TO HONOR NEGRO LEAGUE AND HISPANIC BASEBALL LEGENDS
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers today announced details for the third annual Negro Leagues Tribute and Cerveceros Day events at Miller Park this season. The announcement was made by Brewers Executive Vice President – Business Operations Rick Schlesinger.
The annual Negro Leagues Tribute, started in 2006, will take place on Saturday, July 5 when the Pittsburgh Pirates visit Miller Park for a 6:05 p.m. start time. As part of the tribute, the Brewers will wear reproductions of uniforms worn by the Milwaukee Bears, the city's 1923 representative in the Negro National League. The team played only one season before disbanding but featured some of the game's most influential men, including Hall-of-Fame player/manager Preston “Pete” Hill.
The Pittsburgh Pirates will join in by donning uniforms that will honor the Pittsburgh Crawfords, home to Negro League legends such as Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. The Crawfords played as an independent team in 1932 before joining the Negro National League from 1933-38.
Also on this day, two former Negro League players will be inducted into the Yesterday's Negro League Hall of Fame, located at Milwaukee's Mother Kathryn Daniels Conference Center (MKDCC). Pitcher Eugene ‘Dick' Scruggs (Detroit Stars and Kansas City Monarchs, 1957-58) and first baseman James ‘Red' Moore (Atlanta Black Crackers, Newark Eagles and Baltimore Elite Giants, 1934-1948) will receive the honor at the MKDCC and then travel to Miller Park for pre-game recognition on the field. The Brewers, Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and the MKDCC formed a partnership in 2006 to present the Negro Leagues Tribute and support other community-based initiatives.
In previous years, the Brewers recognized outfielder W. James ‘Jim' Cobbin and catcher Arthur Hamilton into the Yesterday's Negro League Hall of Fame in 2007. During the Brewers initial Negro Leagues Tribute in 2006, Buck O'Neil, James Sanders and Dennis Biddle were each recognized.
Following both games, the commemorative uniforms worn by the Brewers will be auctioned off on brewers.com. The proceeds from the Bears uniforms will benefit the Yesterday's Negro League Foundation and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. The “Cerveceros” jerseys worn by the players will be auctioned with proceeds going to the Wisconsin Hispanic Scholarship Fund (Mexican Fiesta), the Phillip Arreola Scholarship Fund (Hispanic Chamber) and the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee Scholarship Fund.
Located inside Miller Park near the Home Plate Gate on the Field Level, fans will notice two displays which include photos, artifacts and stories on the history of the Negro Leagues and Hispanic players in Major League Baseball.
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