Top Blue Jays Player #12: Lloyd
Moseby
Position: Centre
Field
Seasons With the
Jays: 10 (1980-1989)
MLB Awards: Silver
Slugger (1983)
All-Star Game
Selection: 1986
Stats: Games Played 1392 Batting
Average .257
Base Hits 1319 Runs
Scored 768
Home Runs 149 RBIs 651
Doubles
242 Triples 60
Stolen Bases 255 Walks 547
If you look at the list of
all-time batting leaders for the Toronto Blue Jays, you will find Lloyd
Moseby’s name in the top five in games played (4th), at bats (3rd),
runs score (3rd), hits (4th), doubles (4th),
triples (2nd), walks (3rd) and stolen bases (1st).
He was part of the “best outfield in baseball” in the 1980s along with George
Bell and Jesse Barfield. Yet his name is rarely mentioned when mentioning the
best Jays’ players of all-time. The reason has to be because he went about his
job while drawing little attention to himself and was a model of consistency
throughout his ten years with the club.
Moseby was drafted in the first
round (second overall) by Toronto in the 1978 Amateur Draft. In 1980, at the
young age of 20, he was a regular in the Toronto line-up. In 114 games, mostly
playing in right field, his average was a little low at .229 but he showed
flashes of potential with his nine home runs, 46 RBIs and 24 doubles. In the
outfield, he only made four errors for a .982 fielding percentage.
In the strike-shortened season
of 1981, Moseby became the everyday centre-fielder, a position he would hold
for the rest of the decade. His average climbed a little to .233, and despite
playing 14 fewer games than the previous year, his power numbers where similar
(nine home runs, 43 RBIs) and he showed his speed on the bases, stealing 11 of
them.
After putting up the same sort
of numbers in 1982 (.236, 9, 52, 11 steals), Moseby’s breakout year was 1983.
He hit over .300 for the only time in his career (.315) and smashed 18 home
runs while driving in 81 and stealing 27 bases. As Moseby improved, so did the
Jays who finished with a winning record for the first time in their history.
While Moseby’s batting average
dropped to .280 in 1984, he still hit 18 home runs, drove in 92 runs and stole
39 bases. He also led the league in triples with 15. In 1985, the Blue Jays won
the first American League East title in team history, and Moseby’s contributions
from the lead off spot or number two in the order were a part of the team’s
success. He hit 18 homers, had 70 RBIs and stole 37 bases. One of his home runs
came on the second last day of the season in a 5-1 Toronto win over the New
York Yankees that clinched the division. In the ALCS, a seven-game loss to the
Kansas City Royals, he struggled with a .226 batting average, but still managed
to score five runs and add four RBIs.
His only All-Star Game
appearance happened in 1986, as he hit the 20-home run mark for the first time
in his career (21) while adding 86 RBIs and stealing 32 bases. He followed that
up with the best season of his career in 1987 when he batted .282, hit 26 home
runs, added 96 RBIs and stole 39 bases. All the while, his solid defensive play
in centre field made him a dependable force in the out field. In his ten years
in Toronto, he never committed more than eight errors in a season.
But his offensive production
would start to decline in 1988. His average dropped significantly to .239, and
his power numbers suffered as well (10 home runs, 42 RBIs.). However, he
managed to steal 30 bases for the fifth consecutive year (31). It was pretty
much the same production in 1989 (.221, 11, 43 and 24 stolen bases) but Moseby
remained in the lead-off spot, pretty much because the Jays didn’t have many
other options.
The team won their second
division title, but lost to the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. In his last
hurrah in a Blue Jays’ uniform, Moseby batted .313, scored four runs, and even
hit a home run in his final at-bat as a member of the team when he went deep in
the eighth inning of the final game.
Prior to the 1990 season, Moseby
signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers. While he played in 122 games in
that season, he was used sparingly in 1991 (only 74 games) and subsequently
signed with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan and played with them for two seasons
before retiring.
He served as a first base coach
for the Jays in 1998 and 1999.
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