Former Brewers playoff hero passes away at 72

Longtime Milwaukee Brewers catcher and outfielder Charlie “Butch” Moore passed away Saturday at the age of 72, according to the team. Moore spent 14 seasons with Milwaukee across a 15-year Major League Baseball career, with his only other MLB season coming in 1987 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Moore was selected by Milwaukee in the fifth round of the 1971 MLB Draft out of Minor High School in Adamsville, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. He made his major league debut on September 8, 1973, beginning a career that remained almost entirely tied to the Brewers.

He initially served as a backup catcher to Darrell Porter while also appearing in the outfield. After Porter’s departure following the 1976 season, Moore’s role behind the plate expanded. Later in his career, Milwaukee shifted him into a more regular right field role from 1982 to 1984, before he returned to catching duties. Over time, he also made starts at all three outfield positions.

Moore’s most defining postseason moment came in Game 5 of the 1982 American League Championship Series. Playing right field, he threw out Reggie Jackson at third base on a Fred Lynn single, helping the Brewers secure a 4-3 victory over the California Angels. That win sent Milwaukee to its only World Series appearance, as part of the “Harvey’s Wallbangers” team.

In the 1982 postseason overall, Moore appeared in 12 games and finished with a .385/.429/.462 slash line over 44 plate appearances. In the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, which the Brewers lost 4 games to 3, he went 9-for-26 with three doubles and two RBIs. He also made a diving defensive play in Game 5 of that series to rob Lonnie Smith.

Earlier, on October 1, 1980, Moore hit for the cycle and stole two bases against the Angels, becoming the first player since at least 1900 to achieve that combination in a single game. His Milwaukee career numbers included a .262 batting average, 35 home runs, 401 RBIs, along with a .675 OPS, 51 stolen bases, 1,283 games, and 4,483 plate appearances. He was also the final player driven in by Hank Aaron on October 3, 1976, when Aaron recorded his last RBI with the Brewers.

Moore was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2025 and is also a member of the Milwaukee Wall of Honor. The Brewers observed a moment of silence in his memory on Sunday before their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at American Family Field.