The brother of tennis great Billie Jean King, Moffitt averaged 58 games a year out
of San Francisco's bullpen from 1972 through 1978. A sinkerballer with good control,
he threw his fastball and slider with overhand,
three-quarter, and sidearm deliveries.
He was second in the NL with 15 saves in 1974, and sixth in 1976 with 14. He missed
much of 1980 and 1981 with a mysterious stomach ailment that turned out to be a fungus
so rare that his was only the world's third known case. Doctors finally burned it
out. Moffitt retired with 96 career saves.
(NLM)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»June 4, 1970: In the June draft, the Padres select high school catcher Mike Ivie as the number-one pick and sign him in three days to a $100,000 contract. He'll play in the ML 11 years but catch only nine games in the bigs because of a phobia about throwing the ball back to the pitcher. Choosing next, the Indians take Stanford P Steve Dunning, who will debut in 10 days. Catchers Barry Foote (Expos) and Darrell Porter (Brewers) go next. The Pirates wait till the 14th round to take Dave Parker. Rich Gossage goes in the 9th round to the White Sox; Rick Reuschel to the Cubs (3); pitcher Dale Murphy to the Braves (18th). The Giants took Randy Moffitt and Chris Speier on the first round in January and repeat the good first round picks today with John D'Acquisto and Dave Kingman. The Reds take prep SS Gary Polczynski in the first round, but have better luck in the 8th (Will McEnaney), the 10th (Ray Knight) and the 19th (Pat Zachry). The Phillies, Royals, Dodgers, and Angels pick 5th, 8th, 9th and 10th on the first round and also come up with duds. Future seventeen-year major leaguer Frank White goes undrafted today.
»July 2, 1972:
Willie McCovey hits his 14th career grand slam to pace the Giants 9–3 win over the Dodgers. Randy Moffitt wins his first ML game and receives a congratulatory telegram from his sister Billie Jean King, who is playing at Wimbledon.
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