All-Time Indians: Earl Moore

Earl Moore ushered in the new era of Cleveland baseball as the Indians first ace and the only pitcher to stay on the team from the first to the second season. Moore didn't stay the ace very long as Addie Joss and Bill Bernhard both arrived in 1902, however he retained the role through 1903. He won the ERA title that season, giving the Indians three of the first eight American League ERA champions (Joss won the other two). That ERA remains in the top ten best single season ERAs in Indians history. Of course this is slightly overshadowed as nine of the top ten occurred within the first eleven years of team history (congrats to Luis Tiant in 1968 breaking the top five).

1904 saw one of the greatest rotations in Indians history as the team used just seven total pitchers for the entire year. Six pitchers started 16 or more games and each held an ERA under 3.00 (the best being the league leader Joss). The main rotation included Bernhard as the ace, followed by Red Donahue, Moore and Joss with Otto Hess and Bob Rhoads pitching in the extra starts. Hess was especially great, pulling a 1.67 ERA in his first full professional season. Most impressively, there were only 14 relief appearances during the entire season all made up by the rest of the starting staff. Moore himself completed 22 of his 24 starts and came in for relief twice as well. While his win-loss record was not what it should have been (12-11), that had a lot more to due with the lack of offense rather than his pitching.

After poor seasons in 1906 and 1907, Moore was traded to the New York Highlanders for Walter Clarkson and Frank Delahanty. He then spent the next eight seasons bouncing around between four teams, reclaiming some of his glory in 1909 and 1910 for the Phillies before losing a career high 19 games in 1911. He never held an ERA under 3.00 again for the rest of his career. Earl Moore died in 1961