1973 Profile: Jerry Moses

"Jerry Moses was on the American League's All-Star team in 1970. So when the Yankees traded four young players to Cleveland last winter to land Graig Nettles, they also insisted on obtaining Jerry Moses to back up Thurman Munson.
Jerry gives the Yankees a young, experienced catcher with good power. The 6'3", 210-pounder from Yazoo City, Mississippi was a fine all-around athlete at Ole Miss, where he was a promising football star when the Red Sox won him over with a $75,000 bonus. He spent seven years with Boston, where he was a roommate and neighbor of Sparky Lyle, then moved on to California and Cleveland.
He brings a lifetime .256 average to his new and important position in the Yankee plans for 1973."

-The New York Yankees Official 1973 Yearbook

"Jerry would be a welcome addition to any club's catching corps.
A fine athlete, he spurned a football career after one year at Ole Miss to sign a reported $75,000 bonus contract with the Boston Red Sox in 1964. An all-star catcher his first year in professional baseball at Wellsville in the New York-Penn League, he jumped to the Red Sox at the start of the 1965 season and hit a pinch-homer in only his second major league at-bat. He eventually went back to the minor leagues for needed experience, and in 1967 was again an all-star catcher at Pittsfield in the Eastern League, leading receivers in putouts and assists. He also led catchers in putouts and assists in 1968 while with Louisville in the International League. He arrived in the major leagues to stay in 1969 with the Red Sox. The California Angels obtained him in 1971 and Cleveland acquired him the next season.
Jerry brings a .256 lifetime batting average to the Yankees. He hit .304 in 53 games for the Red Sox in 1969, and in 1970 he got off to a fast start with the bat, hitting .344 in April and .271 in May before a split finger and injured hand plagued him for the remainder of the season. He still wound up hitting a respectable .263 in 92 games and made the All-Star team.
Jerry, an Honorable Mention All-American football player in high school, played sandlot baseball with Archie Manning, star quarterback with the New Orleans Saints in the NFL."

-1973 New York Yankees Press/TV/Radio Guide