Leave ‘Em Wanting Moyer

I’m a big Jamie Moyer fan, and even write about him from time to time. He was born fairly close to my Pennsylvania hometown, for starters, and his sister was my music teacher in fourth and fifth grade. (I ditched safety patrol in fifth grade to get his autograph, and wish that I still had that particular piece of paper. It said “To Ben — Best Wishes.”) That he went on to play for the Phillies, whom I rooted for growing up, was an added bonus.

So all of this is to say that I’m in total support of a Pennsylvania team staging a promotion in honor of the 49-year-old’s latest (and therefore greatest) accomplishment. Tonight, this is going down in Altoona:

Nothing like quoting from a press release on a fine April morning. I’m gonna do so extensively:

The magic number through Moyer’s pursuit of history has been his age, 49, one tick below his jersey number 50.  Paying homage to the ageless southpaw, the Curve will offer $4.90 individual Diamond Club seats and a pair of Grandstand seats for the same price on Thursday night.

Additionally, any Curve fans in attendance wearing 49ers gear of any team-from San Francisco’s NFL team to UNC Charlotte to Long Beach State-will get into the series opener with Richmond for free, as will fans wearing any jersey from one of Moyer’s eight MLB clubs over his 25-year career….anyone from America’s 49th state, Alaska, which achieved statehood just three years and ten months before Moyer’s birth, and any fan rocking stirrups emulating the lefty’s notable leg wear of choice.

The original 49er

In tribute to the beginnings of this baseball legend, the Curve will offer free Thursday night admission to anyone named Jamie or Moyer, anyone hailing from Souderton or Sellersville, and anyone with a Saint Joseph’s University ID card….Thursday night, the Curve will hold a special postgame Ball Launch with all money raised for the event going to the Jamie Moyer Foundation.

“This is a truly remarkable achievement for Jamie Moyer,” said Curve General Manager Rob Egan.  “If we can celebrate it, have fun with it, and raise some funds and awareness for the Moyer Foundation, so much the better.  I’m just a little worried we might giveaway all of our tickets to people in the northern part of Cambria County as the name Moyer is like Smith in that part of our region.”

Among other notable facts and figures in the remarkably loquacious release is this: Curve manager P.J. Forbes went 0-for-3 against Moyer in 1998, when the former was a 30-year-old Oriole rookie and the latter a 36-year-old Mariner. Being a nerd about this kind of thing, I took it upon myself to find the game in question. It was July 26, and Jamie earned the win after allowing four runs over seven innings of work. And not only did P.J. go 0-for-3, but these were the first at-bats of his Major League career! He finally got his first hit on July 31, collecting an RBI single against Jose Rosado of the Royals.

14 years later, Jamie is still pitching while P.J. is a Double-A manager and subject of an MiLB.com “Photo of the Year.”

"I went 0-for-3 off of Jamie Moyer!"

So, anyway, it’s 565 words later and here we are. In my next post it’ll be brevity or bust, promise.

benjamin.hill@mlb.com

twitter.com/bensbiz

2 comments

Leave a comment