Our attention turns to one of the NeL's truly tragic figures,
Porter Moss.
Cincinnati-born Porter was a submarine pitcher who, after a cuppa with the ABCs in 1932, made his debut proper with his hometown Tigers in '36. But it was with the Red Sox that he came to prominence, appearing in numerous East-West games and showing steady improvement with each season.
1944 saw him in career-best form, with an 8-6 record and fine 2.42 ERA (138 ERA+) entering July, when tragedy of the worst kind struck. An innocent bystander when a fight broke out over a dice game on a train, he was hit by a wayward bullet and, after being refused treatment by a doctor because he was black, died of his wound. He was just 34.
So many questions pose themselves in situations like this, questions with no answers about what might have been - only speculation. In the end, posterity will record him with a lifetime 20-29 / 4.09 record, while EC's MLEs allot him just 5 WAR.
The EL isn't being much kinder to poor old "Ankleball" (I need to dig deeper into the origins of this nickname, it's a beauty...). Drafted in 1972 by the MoStars with the 34th overall pick, a 6-12 rookie season was only the entree. So far in '73, he has gone a most ungainly 1-14, another victim of the dreaded combination of high ERA (66 ERA+) / low run support (1.9 RPG) that has claimed much better pitchers than him. Here's hoping both he, and his Detroit teammates, can turn things around.