Moriarty grew up near the Union Stock Yards on Chicago’s South Side and never completed middle school. He had six siblings, one of whom had a brief trial with the Cincinnati Reds. George began his baseball career at the age of sixteen. Originally signed by the Cubs, he bounced up and down from the majors to the minors for several years before the New York Highlanders (later known as the Yankees) purchased his contract in 1906. He reached his peak as a player with the Detroit Tigers.
In 1909, Moriarty became the Tigers’ regular third baseman, helping the club to a World Series berth that year. A daring base runner with a penchant for stealing home, he was popular among teammates, earning the title of team captain. Like most players of the Deadball Era, Moriarty was rough and always ready to fight. Interestingly, the ferocious Ty Cobb was said to have backed down from a scrape with Moriarty.
By 1915, Moriarty’s playing skills had eroded significantly, prompting the Tigers to release him. He appeared in seven games with the White Sox the following season before returning to the minors. He played and managed for the Memphis Chickasaws of the Southern League. The club finished in sixth place and Moriarty fell ill with typhoid fever, making it a miserable year for him all around.
In 1917, Moriarty chose a new career path, accepting a job as an AL umpire. Remarkably, he was hired without any prior experience. The learning curve was steep, but Moriarty became renowned for his accurate calls and ability to keep unruly players in line. Joe Williams of the New York World Telegram described Moriarty as “a fiery individual who never hesitated to speak his peace.” Moriarty’s contentious nature invited trouble more than once during his career.
On May 30, 1932, the Indians throttled the White Sox, 12-6, in the opening game of a doubleheader at League Park in Cleveland. Working with colleague Bill Dinneen that day, Moriarty drew the home plate assignment in both games. The White Sox were clinging to a lead in the finale when Moriarty exchanged words with Chicago coach Johnny Butler, who ended up being tossed from the game. With tensions running high, Moriarty made a controversial decision on a pitch to Cleveland’s Earl Averill in the bottom of the ninth. Catcher Charlie Berry thought it was strike three, but Moriarty saw it differently, calling Milt Gaston’s offering a ball. Given another chance, the clutch-hitting Averill delivered a game-tying triple to right-center field. He scored the winning run shortly afterward.
Several versions of the events that followed exist. Sticking only to established facts, Moriarty was harassed by White Sox players after the game. He challenged them to a fight and, when Gaston accepted, the arbiter decked him. Three members of the Chicago staff joined the fray, leaving Moriarty with an assortment of cuts and bruises to go with the broken hand he had sustained when he punched out Gaston. “Moriarty was looking for a fight and it seems that he got it,” White Sox manager Lew Fonseca told reporters afterward. “Everyone in baseball knows many stories of Moriarty’s brawling tendencies and his eagerness to start a fight at the slightest provocation.”
Following a full investigation of the incident, AL President Will Harridge issued a variety of fines and suspensions to White Sox personnel. Meanwhile, Moriarty got off with a stern reprimand. During the offseason, he salvaged his reputation by serving as an AL ambassador. Appearing in various venues, he toured the country reading his own poetry and giving lectures that were very well received. An amateur writer on the side, Moriarty’s editorials, poems and musical compositions were sporadically published over the years. At one point, he had a nationally syndicated baseball column.
In 1935, Moriarty found himself embroiled in controversy again. During Game 3 of the World Series, several members of the Cubs took to harassing Tigers superstar Hank Greenberg, who had made headlines the previous year for refusing to play on Yom Kippur—the Hebrew Day of Atonement. Moriarty felt that the anti-Semitic remarks made by Chicago players were offensive and berated them harshly for it. He then set a World Series precedent by issuing multiple ejections. At the time, there was a rule in place forbidding umpires to remove players from Series games without the Commissioner’s approval. Moriarty received a $200 fine for his actions.
In 1940, Moriarty finally decided to put an end to his umpiring career with more than 3,000 games to his credit. He took a job as a traveling lecturer for the American League public relations staff and scouted for the Tigers well into the 1950s. After leaving baseball behind, he retired to Coral Gables, Florida. He was seventy-nine years old when he died of kidney cancer in 1964.
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