Curtell Howard Motton ( ; September 24, 1940 – January 21, 2010) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

player. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

from through , most notably as a member of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

dynasty that won three consecutive American League pennants from 1969 to 1971 and, won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 World Series, 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The ...

in 1970. He also played for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association wi ...

and the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

Minors

Motton played

at Encinal High School in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

, the same school that produced

Willie Stargell Wilver Dornell Stargell (March 6, 1940 – April 9, 2001), nicknamed "Pops" later in his career, was an American professional baseball left fielder and first baseman who spent all of his 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1962–1982) ...

, Tommy Harper, Jimmy Rollins and Dontrelle Willis. He completed his education at Santa Rosa Junior College and the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...

Berkeley, CA Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Eme ...

. Motton signed as an amateur free agent by the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

on July 20, 1961. After only one full campaign with the St. Cloud Rox in 1962, in which he hit .291 with 13

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

and 69

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

, he was selected by the Orioles in the 1962 first-year draft. Both he and Paul Blair powered the offense of the Harry Dunlop-managed

Stockton Ports The Stockton Ports are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at ...

when they won the 1963 California League championship. Motton led the team in batting with a .333 average. He spent the next years away from the Orioles organization when he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

at Fort Richardson. He managed to play organized baseball in 1964 with the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks, which also featured

Tom Seaver George Thomas Seaver (November 17, 1944 – August 31, 2020), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cinc ...

Graig Nettles Graig Nettles (born August 20, 1944), nicknamed "Puff", is an American former Major League Baseball third baseman. During a 22-year baseball career, he played for the Minnesota Twins (1967–1969), Cleveland Indians (1970–1972), New York Yankee ...

and Rick Monday. He returned to the Orioles' farm system in 1965, and made his major league debut during the 1967 season.

Baltimore Orioles

Motton saw the most playing time in his career in 1968 when he platooned in

left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering syst ...

with Curt Blefary. For the season, he batted only .198 with eight home runs and 25 RBIs, however, perhaps as a sign of things to come, he set a record by hitting a pinch hit home run in consecutive pinch hit at-bats on May 15 and May 17. In 1969,

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

Don Buford Donald Alvin Buford (born February 2, 1937) is an American former professional baseball player scout, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from through , most notably as the leadoff hitter for the Baltimore Orio ...

was converted into an outfielder, relegating Motton to pinch hitting duties. Motton shined in his new role, batting .303 with six home runs and 21 RBIs for the season. Perhaps his most memorable pinch hit at-bat came on October 5 against the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...

in the

1969 American League Championship Series The 1969 American League Championship Series was the first ALCS held after Major League Baseball adopted the two-division format that season. It featured the Baltimore Orioles vs. the Minnesota Twins, with the Orioles winning the series 3–0 and ...

. With the score tied at zero in the eleventh inning, Motton singled in Boog Powell for the only run of the game.

1972 season

Motton remained with the Orioles through 1971, winning a World Series with the team in 1970. Prior to the start of the 1972 season, Motton was traded to the

for a player to be named later and cash. Expected to compete for one of the starting outfield jobs, he ended up being beat out by John Briggs and Joe Lahoud. Motton was critical of manager Dave Bristol over his lack of playing time, and was traded to the

for minor league

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

Archie Reynolds Archie Edward Reynolds (born January 3, 1946) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He appeared in 36 games over five seasons in Major League Baseball without earning a win. He had eight losses. Reynolds was born in Glendale, California, bu ...

just over a month into the season. He batted just .156 for his two clubs, and began the 1973 season assigned to the Angels' triple A affiliate, the Salt Lake City Angels. After batting just .152 in 28 games for Salt Lake, the Angels released Motton, and he returned to the Orioles. Motton appeared in just seven more games for the Orioles over the next two seasons.

Death

Motton died after a long battle with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenoca ...

at his home in Parkton, Maryland, on January 21, 2010. His wife Marti, a retired Baltimore County Police Officer, was by his side.

References

External links

Curt Motton
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)

at The Deadball Era * {{DEFAULTSORT:Motton, Curt 1940 births 2010 deaths African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players Baltimore Orioles coaches Baltimore Orioles players Baltimore Orioles scouts Baseball players from Louisiana Birmingham A's players California Angels players California Golden Bears baseball players Deaths from cancer in Maryland Deaths from stomach cancer Elmira Pioneers players Florida Instructional League Orioles players Fox Cities Foxes players Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball outfielders Milwaukee Brewers players People from Parkton, Maryland Rochester Red Wings players St. Cloud Rox players Salt Lake City Angels players Stockton Ports players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Santa Rosa Bear Cubs baseball players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players