The Greatness of Jackie Moore

Saturday night, former Texas Rangers bench coach, big league manager and Round Rock Express manager Jackie Moore was the first ever inductee into the Round Rock Express Hall of Fame. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Jackie Moore was the first ever manager of the Round Rock Express 15 years ago, and he managed them for 8 seasons. There were many former players that showed up for the event and both Nolan Ryan and Reid Ryan were in attendance as well.

“We couldn’t have had a first year manager better than him” Nolan Ryan said to a group of media on the field. “For him to stay here for eight years… to have a veteran baseball player like him as the manager… What he did is he really tied the community to the team and the players to the community and I think he was a bit of a father figure for these young players…”

Nolan Ryan went on to say that Jackie Moore really played a big role in the success of the Texas Rangers while he was there. Jackie Moore is still the only manager to have won a championship with the Round Rock Express, and he accomplished that in his very first season with the Express.

“I grew up in Houston, and all I ever thought about was being a baseball player” Jackie Moore told the crowd in Dell Diamond Field. “And I’ve been very fortunate….I can’t stand here and say it was all good from the get go, cause I didn’t know what I was getting into. We opened the season in El Paso and lost the first six games. We go in the clubhouse and had no hot water…Reid and Reese kept telling me hang in there, it’s going to get better. Well they weren’t the ones having to take that cold shower!… I had the opportunity to watch a lot of these young players grow up, and grow up they did…”

Jackie Moore meant and still means a whole lot to the Round Rock Express team and the Round Rock community, and it was an honor to be there in person to cover it. A personal note, I got to shake Jackie’s hand in the press box and talk to him briefly and it is a moment that I will not soon forget. I congratulated him on the induction and he thanked me. So congratulations to the great Jackie Moore. We will air the speech in it’s entirety on The Ranger Report Podcast this coming weekend.