Mike Moore (November 25, 1941 – February 3, 2022) was an American baseball executive. He served as president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues from 1991 through 2007. ''MiLB.com.'' Retrieved on December 5, 2015.

Early life and career

Moore was born and raised in Columbus, Indiana. He enrolled at the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

in 1960 and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

Tampa Spartans The Tampa Spartans are the athletic teams that represent the University of Tampa, located in Tampa, Florida, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Spartans compete as members of the Sunshine State Conference for all sports besides beach ...

as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

. After suffering a shoulder injury, he called Spartans baseball games on the college radio station and managed the station. Moore earned a degree in business education in 1963. After Moore graduated, he became the University of Tampa's sports information director. He hosted a country music radio show on WYOU, was a sports reporter for

WTVT WTVT (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Tampa Bay area. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, WTVT maintains studios on Kenne ...

, and a

ring announcer A ring announcer is an in-ring (and sometimes on-camera) employee or contractor for a boxing, professional wrestling or mixed martial arts event or promotion, who introduces the competitors to the audience. In boxing and mixed martial arts bou ...

for

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

. From 1971 to 1988, he served as vice president,

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

and part owner of the

Tampa Tarpons The Tampa Tarpons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Tampa, Florida. The Tarpons play their home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is ...

, a Florida State League affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds organization. During the 1970s, Tampa was in the farm system of the Cincinnati Reds, and he worked with their general manager,

Bob Howsam Robert Lee Howsam (February 28, 1918 – February 19, 2008) was an American professional sports executive and entrepreneur. In 1959, he played a key role in establishing two leagues—the American Football League, which succeeded and merged with ...

, who put together the

Big Red Machine The Big Red Machine is a nickname for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team that dominated the National League from 1970 to 1979 and is widely recognized as being among the best in baseball history. The team won six National League West Division ti ...

National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues

In 1988 Moore worked as chief administrative officer for the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL), working with president Sal Artiaga. Moore was elected the 10th president of the NAPBL in December 1991. One of his most important moves came in 1992, when he was to convene a constitutional convention that would rewrite the National Association Agreement, which controlled the relationship between the NAPBL and its member leagues. The aforementioned agreement had not materially changed since the organization was founded in 1901. Another important change was converting the NAPBL to more of a ''corporate'' structure than a ''political'' one, which prompted an intensively grown organization under his leadership. Back to 1991, prior to becoming President, Moore established an agency agreement partnership between the Professional Baseball Promotion Corporation, a NAPBL subsidiary, and Major League Baseball Properties to authorize licensed merchandise. Moore was elected to four terms as president, winning re-election three times without opposition. As attendance increased steadily over the years, Minor League Baseball set a new all-time attendance record of 42.8 million fans in 2007, the last season for Moore after spending 16 years in the office. In 2009, Moore became an inaugural inductee in the Florida State League Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Moore and his wife, Barbara, had five children and nine grandchildren.

Death

Moore died at Oak Hill Hospital in Brooksville, Florida, after a long illness on February 3, 2022, at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Mike 1941 births 2022 deaths Date of birth missing Minor league baseball executives People from Columbus, Indiana Sportspeople from Indiana Tampa Spartans baseball players University of Tampa alumni Sportspeople from Florida