Porter Moss

1944 was another resurgent year for the veteran Moss. In the half season that he pitched against professional Negro League teams Moss would win 3 of the 4 games he started. His strike out rate was back to over six strike outs per nine innings pitched and his earned run average was only 2.63. The Pittsburgh Courier remarked in July that Moss was “… almost a sure bet for the East-West game this season.”

On October 10, 1944, Easley plead guilty to second-degree murder in Benton County Tennessee Criminal Court. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for the killing of Moss. Five Memphis Red Sox players were present at the court to testify, but none were called to the stand. The players present were Bubber Hyde, Jimmy Ford, Red Longley, Fred Bankhead and Willie Hutchinson.

Moss was again sent to the East West All-Star game in 1943. This year he would be an alternate for Hilton Smith who was ill. Early in the year he had thrown two complete games shutouts against both the Chicago American Giants and the Cincinnati Clowns. At the East-West game Moss was brought in to relieve Theolic Smith in the ninth inning. The West was leading 2 - 1, but with two outs the East was threatening with runners on first and second. Moss faced Victor Harris. Harris, the manager of the East team, was a dangerous hitter who would post a batting average of .358 during the 1943 season and would play in the Negro League World Series that year. On the second pitch from Moss, Harris hit a fly ball to the center fielder ending the game. Moss was mobbed by the players and the crowd as he walked off the field. Still the highlight of Moss's 1943 season would not come till September 27 when he allowed no runs and no hits in nine innings pitched against the Cincinnati Clowns.

The 1941 and 1942 seasons saw Moss improve upon a bad 1939 season. In 1941 he started seven games against professional negro league teams, winning three and losing two. On September 18, 1941, Moss had his best performance of the year pitching against the New York Black Yankees at Holland Field. Moss pitched a complete game one hit shutout and struck out eleven batters. In 1942 Moss continued to post wins against teams such as the Cincinnati Clowns and the Kansas City Monarchs. He would also return to the East West All-Star game. Moss entered the game for the West in the third inning and relieved the starting pitcher Hilton Smith. He pitched two innings allowing the East batters to score one run off of two hits. Moss left the game with the West trailing 2 -1 and the West would eventual lose with a score of 5 - 2.

It is unclear what Porter Moss was doing during the 1940 season since there is no Negro League records of him pitching that year. Immigration records show that in January 1941 Moss sailed to Miami from Havana, Cuba. Sailing with him was James Bell, Sam Bankhead, and Quincy Barbee. All three of these players were known to have played overseas during this period.

Moss's performance in 1939 was his worst performance since his rookie season. He lost three of the three games he started against teams in the professional leagues and his earned run average ballooned to 7.36. He was once again elected to the West All-Star team, but as in 1938 he would not play in the game. The Red Sox finished the 1939 season in last place.

The Cincinnati Tigers joined the Negro American League in 1937. Moss, who continued to pitch for the club, would have 59 strikeouts over 86.1 innings for the year. The numbers equate to six strikeouts for every nine innings pitched. Moss was again elected to the East Team for the East-West All-Star game. This time he would pitch six innings. Four runs would score while he was on the mound, but only one was earned. The East team he played for lost 2 to 7.

Over the winter of 1937, the Cincinnati Tigers were sold to the owners of the Memphis Red Sox. The team was dissolved and several of the Tiger's player including Moss were retained by the Red Sox. Moss would start eight games for the Red Sox against professional negro league teams and win four and lose three of them. He maintained a rate of six strikeouts per nine innings and was credited with the earning the save in two games. Memphis, with the infusion of talent from Cincinnati, won the Negro American League first half championship. Moss was once more selected to the East-West Game and also to the North-South Games. He would pitch all nine innings of the second game of the Negro American League Championship against the Atlanta Black Crackers. The Black Crackers scored six runs against Moss, but the Red Sox still won by a score of 11 to 6. Memphis and Atlanta would only play two games before the series was cancelled. Based on Memphis winning both games prior to the cancellation of the championship series the league would award the Negro American League Championship to Memphis at their winter meeting.

Moss continued to play baseball after the Negro American League's season ended. In both the winter of 1937 and the winter of 1938 he was active in the California Winter League. Playing for the Philadelphia Royal Giants in 1938, Moss went 3 - 0 and had the best record in the league.

Moss was elected to the East Team for the East-West All-Star game and was selected to play in the North-South Game in 1936. He did not play in the East-West game though as only three of the five pitchers were used in the game: Leroy Matlock, Bill Byrd, and Satchel Paige. Moss had a mixed record against professional teams that year. He won against the Memphis Red Sox, but lost games against the Homestead Greys and the Chicago American Giants.

Moss continued to pitch for the Cincinnati Tigers in 1935. The Tigers played teams from the Negro Southern League, Negro National League, and the Indiana-Ohio League as an independent ball club. Moss pitched in relief in the Tiger's win against the Japanese All-Star Tokyo Giants. He also toured Canada with the Tigers in late August and early September. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that in 1935 Moss won 35 of the 39 games he started.

In 1934 Porter Moss joined the newly formed Cincinnati Tigers. The Tigers were the creation William DeHart Hubbard a Cincinnati native and Olympic gold medalist. The Tigers would start the season as a member of the Negro Southern League but it is unclear if they remained in the league since they were not mentioned in the league's second half standings. The team also joined the Indiana-Ohio League in June and played in the league through the elimination playoffs in August.

Moss had mixed results pitching for the Tigers in 1934. On June 3 Moss struck out 13 batters in a 5 to 2 victory over the Louisville Black Caps of the Negro Southern League and again on July 13 he led the Tigers to a 4 to 1 victory over the Baltimore Black Sox of the Negro National League with 12 strike outs. He pitched in at least two of the four games the Tiger played during the Indiana-Ohio League elimination series and was the losing pitcher for each match. The first game of the series Moss held the Richmond Lincos to five hits and one run but the Tigers lost 1 to 0. The second game of the series Moss came in as a relief pitcher in the 4th inning and was removed in the 8th after giving up seven hits and five runs.

In 1933, Porter Moss was a pitcher for the Goodyear Shoe Repair Team, a community Class A team which played against other local Cincinnati teams. Moss began to distinguish himself when on April 30, 1933, Moss struck out 15 batters in a game, but still lost the game. A week later, Moss again struck out 15 batters in a game. A July 10 article in the Cincinnati Enquirer recounts that the current Class A League champions, the White Sox, played the Goodyear Shoe Repair team. According to the Enquirer the White Sox pitcher Rogers and Moss “...engaged in a thrilling pitchers’ duel.” Moss struck out nine batters and Rogers retired thirteen.

Porter Moss (June 10, 1910 – July 16, 1944) was an American Negro league baseball submarine style pitcher who played primarily for the Cincinnati Tigers and the Memphis Red Sox and was a three-time participant in the Negro league All-Star game. While returning to Memphis after a game, Moss was murdered in an altercation at the age of 34.

Porter Moss was born June 10, 1910, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother is listed as Ida Calloway. Verdell Mathis, one of Moss's teammates on the Memphis Red Sox recalled, in an interview with The Cincinnati Enquire, that Moss was a college educated man. The first mention of Moss as a baseball pitcher in the Cincinnati newspaper is in 1933.