Page 85 - 1975 BoSox

ROGER MORET (BORN ROGELIO Moret Torres) streaked across the skies of Red Sox Nation during the early 1970s
like a comet with a stutter step: often brilliant but sometimes wild. Although he possessed obvious talent, he had some di culty in harnessing it. Once established with the Boston Red Sox in 1973, he alternated two excellent seasons with a mediocre one. Still, he was able to compile an admirable cu- mulative ERA (3.43) and a 41-18 record with the Red Sox, ranking him among the best pitchers of the decade for the Bostons. He led the American League in winning percentage in 1975 and just missed in 1973. en he went away, traded rst by the Red Sox then, slowly and tragically, leaving baseball and sliding into the dark morass of mental illness.
Moret’s mound presence was that of a tall, slender — even spindly — left-hander with a whiplike motion and a speedy fastball, mixed in with a decent curve and a good changeup. Moret threw hard. He weighed 175 pounds but insisted he was taller than his listed 6-feet-4.1
Born in Guayama, Puerto Rico, on September 16, 1949, Moret signed with the Red Sox out of high school in 1968 for a reported $8,000 bonus, He spent his rst season in the A-level minors with Waterloo (Midwest League) in 1968, compiling a 6-6 record, then improving to 12-6 in 1969 in 25 games with Winter Haven (Florida State League).
His next three seasons alternated among the Red Sox and two levels of the minors, Pawtucket (Double-A, Eastern League) and Louisville (Triple-A, International League). His 49-33 record in the minors revealed characteristics he would demon- strate in the majors: fewer hits allowed than innings pitched (7.94 per nine
innings), more walks than usual (5.49 per nine innings), and a decent winning percentage (.598).
In the major leagues Moret logged a .635 career winning percentage in nine seasons, with a 47-27 won-loss record with the Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, and Texas Rangers. In his three full years with the Red Sox (1973-1975), he fashioned a 36-15 mark. Moret’s Fenway Park record of 18-7 was one of the best winning percentages ever for a Red Sox left-hander at home.
Moret made his rst appearance with the Red Sox as a September call-up in 1970. He debuted in the major leagues on September 13 and pitched a perfect eighth inning in a 13-2 loss at Baltimore. In three games he posted a 1-0 record and an ERA of 3.24 in 81⁄3 innings. He got his rst major-league win on his 21st birthday, against the Yankees on September 16, as he pitched four innings of shutout ball in relief of Sonny Siebert.
For the Red Sox in 1971, Moret compiled a 4-3 record with a 2.92 ERA. He had two stretches with the team that year, before and after a productive season with Pawtucket (11-8, 3.15 ERA). Strangely, the rst seven games he appeared in were losses for the Sox, including two losses for himself. He garnered his rst 1971 win, a complete game, on August 28 against the Angels in Anaheim. He nished the year with a run of 4-1 in- cluding a shutout and four complete-game victories.
e 1972 campaign proved to be a forgettable one for Moret, who spent most of the season with Louisville. He made the parent club after spring training but left for Louisville when he pitched ine ectively in three games with the Red Sox, all losses. He didn’t appear for the Red Sox the rest of the year and had a middling stint with Louisville (9-6 with a
4.54 ERA).
Roger Moret
By Seamus Kearney
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