By Jim Henneman

Jamie Moyer surrendered his first home run on June 23, 1986, to the Phillies' Juan Samuel. Check out a home run log of Moyer's career.

For those tracking significant events in the remarkable career of ex-Oriole lefthander Jamie Moyer, you would be wise to circle the dates July 19-22. That’s when the Philadelphia Phillies make their only visit to St. Louis this year, giving Moyer a chance for yet another milestone in a career gradually becoming full of them. So many, in fact, the wily veteran has me checking a few of my own (fill in wisecrack of choice).

So, you wonder, what’s the big deal? Well, it just so happens Busch Stadium III (I think it’s illegal to call a park by another name in St. Louis) is the only major league park in existence in which Moyer has not allowed a home run. In case you hadn’t noticed, Moyer has gotten a lot of attention ever since he became the all-time homer heaver -- much to the consternation of my good friend John Maroon, the ex-O’s PR guy who justifiably thinks Jamie’s record and humanitarian efforts as one of the world’s great people shouldn’t be overshadowed.

He’s right, of course, but anytime you have the most of anything in baseball it’s usually a good thing. You don’t get to top any lists unless you have earned the right to get there. The guy Moyer chased out of the record books, Hall of Famer Robin Roberts (who also made a cameo with the Orioles), is enough indication that Moyer’s in good company.

Unless Philly manager Charlie Manuel makes a decision even stranger than the one that led him to include Omar Infante on the National League All-Star team, Moyer will pitch one of those games in St. Louis. Assuming he stays on schedule, Moyer would be first up after the All-Star break, though that nod could go to Roy Halladay, the acknowledged Phillies’ ace. The only way Moyer would miss the Cardinals would be if he was pushed back to the No. 4 slot in the rotation, which would seem kind of ludicrous, but certainly not the most curious decision Manuel has made lately.

This is not to suggest Moyer won’t have another chance, even though he’s in the last year of a two-year deal he signed after helping the Phillies win the 2008 World Series. After all, the ageless southpaw (how come they don’t call right-handers northpaws?) has already pitched in one more century than anybody thought possible 20 years ago.

So who can suggest he won’t become baseball's first card-carrying AARP member?
Of all the places he has played, Busch III (where he has pitched only 12 innings) isn’t the only park where Moyer didn’t give up a goner. There are six others but truth be told, Jamie barely got to know where the visiting locker rooms were in any of them. The only one still standing is Candlestick in San Francisco, where he logged all of 13 2/3 innings, and where the only long balls thrown now are by quarterbacks. The Astrodome (25 innings) in Houston, RFK in Washington (14 innings), the Memorial Stadiums in Cleveland (16 2/3) and Baltimore (3 1/3) and Chicago’s old Comiskey Park are the other five.

Home runs at this point are obviously old hat to Moyer. After all he has been serving them up for almost a quarter-century. Juan Samuel (another cameo Oriole?) hit the first one June 23, 1986. Another homer, another park isn’t going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things. In fact, it may be the time period during which Moyer plied his trade -- an era spawning the building era in baseball -- that contributed most to what might be the most intriguing numbers of all.

As of this writing, Moyer had allowed one more home run (506) than Roberts and recorded one less win (267) than Jim Palmer. But the two numbers on his scorecard that interest me the most are a couple I can relate to, though in a much more insignificant way. Moyer has pitched in a staggering 49 major league parks, meaning he has allowed home runs in 42 (with Busch III perhaps on the horizon).

Trying to put those numbers into a personal perspective, by last count I have seen games in 41 different major league parks, covering games in 34 of them -- a similar ratio to Moyer’s HR allowance rate. Because there are still 14 parks out there I haven’t seen since I stopped covering MLB (another staggering number), I’ve got a remote chance of catching Moyer on the big number. But his home runs vs. game coverage lead is insurmountable.

Here’s the real kicker: At his age, Moyer is as old, or older, in his profession as I am in mine -- but I’m semi-retired. By contrast, Jamie is probably throwing as hard today as he was when I was his age. And he’s doing it just as often. Go figure.

Ten years ago we were all worried about computers breaking down as we changed centuries. A decade before that, Moyer was scrambling to salvage his career. He and computers made the transition, and now he’s on the threshold of an almost unthinkable accomplishment -- pitching in the big leagues in four different decades.

Jamie Moyer has become one of baseball’s most enduring, and endearing, stories. Don’t be surprised if he’s not somebody’s Man of the Year or Man of the Decade. Or both.

Posted July 6, 2010