1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #115 Gene Moore

Sunday, February 18, 2024

#115 Gene Moore - Boston Bees

Eugene Moore

Boston Bees

Outfield

Bats: Left Throws: Left Height: 5'11" Weight: 175
Born: August 26, 1909, Lancaster, TX

Major League Teams: Cincinnati Reds 1931; St. Louis Cardinals 1933-1935; Boston Bees 1936-1938; Brooklyn Dodgers 1939-1940; Boston Bees 1940; Boston Braves 1941; Washington Senators 1942-1943; St. Louis Browns 1944-1945

World Series Appearances: St. Louis Browns 1944

Died: March 12, 1978, Jackson, MS (68)

Slugger Gene Moore played in 14 major league seasons, finding his most success as a member of the Boston Bees between 1936 and 1938. Moore played sparingly for the Reds and Cardinals between 1931 and 1935, finally getting a chance as an everyday player with the Bees in 1936 as their regular right fielder. Moore batted .290 that season with 13 home runs and 67 RBIs. A year later he'd be named to the National League All-Star team and reach career highs in both home runs (16) and RBIs (70). Moore had a strong throwing arm and twice led all outfielders in assists in 1936 and 1937. He continued to find regular playing time into the mid-1940s, finishing up his career with the Browns with two straight seasons of at least 50 RBIs in 1944 and 1945. Moore saw his only World Series action in 1944 with the Browns, but his team fell to the city rival Cardinals in six games. In 1,042 major league games, Moore collected 958 hits and batted .270, with 58 home runs and 436 RBIs.

Building the Set

December 11, 2020 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards)

On the night I impulsively decided to collect the original Diamond Stars set, and I subsequently purchased the Harvey Hendrick (#41) card from Kit Young Cards, I also added the complete, and first, extended set to my cart for the very reasonable price of $7.50. The 12 cards in this first extended set were originally issued in 1981.

In the early 1980s, a family member of a former National Chicle employee discovered an uncut sheet of 12 unused cards presumably meant as a 1937 continuation of the Diamond Stars set. As originally advertised, and as mentioned on the back of every card issued, the company had intended for the set to contain 240 subjects. They only produced 108 cards before production was halted, and the theory is this newly found sheet represented a "lost" continuation of the set. Fortunately, the images of the cards made their way into the collecting world and a 12-card "what if" set was created. (More on the uncut sheet can be found here from SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee and from this Ryan Cracknell article for Beckett.)

Another great article was recently published to SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee website taking a closer look at these extended cards.

The Beckett online database lists the set as "1981 Diamond Stars Continuation Den's" and the set's description notes "This set was created and produced by Denny Eckes. Hobbyist Mike Galella was involved in bringing this sheet to the the public. These cards were originally available from the producer for $3." The back of the cards have a 1981 copyright attributed to Den's Collectors Den, the company belonging to the aforementioned Eckes.

The 12 cards include more ambitious geometric designs than the original Diamond Stars cards, although the overall color template remains the same as their 1934 to 1936 counterparts.

Variations Available

1 - 1981 / blue back / 1936 statistics / 1981 copyright

The Card / Bees Team Set

Boston's National League team changed its name to the Bees between 1936 and 1940, but the back of this card still refers to Moore's team as the Braves. As has been the case with all of these extended cards from 1981, the write-up on the back stays true to the spirit of the original Diamond Stars cards. Moore's card contains a tip for being ready, but relaxed, in the outfield, ready to react to a batted ball "with the carck of the bat."

1937 Season

As mentioned above, this was one of Moore's best seasons and he played in 148 games for the fifth place Bees. His bWAR of 5.5 was the top among all offensive players for the Bees, and second on the team to only pitcher Jim Turner (bWAR 6.1) who was 20-11 with a 2.38 ERA. Moore made 148 starts in right field, and interestingly enough the only games in which he wasn't the starting right fielder were the Bees' first two and last two games. Moore was named to but didn't get into the All-Star Game.