Former Toronto Blue Jays reliever Randy Moffitt dies at 76

August 29, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Former Toronto Blue Jays reliever Randy Moffitt died on Thursday at the age of 76 after an extended illness.

The San Francisco Giants, whom Moffitt pitched for from 1972 to 1981, shared the news of his passing.

“The San Francisco Giants are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former San Francisco Giants pitcher Randy Moffitt,” the Giants said in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences to the Moffitt family.”

Longtime Blue Jays fans will remember Moffitt as one of the team’s closers during the 1983 season. As a 34-year-old veteran, he posted a 1.53 ERA in the season’s first half and finished with a team-leading 10 saves.

Raised in California

Born on October 13, 1948 in Long Beach, Calif., Moffitt grew up in a sporting family — one in which he had strong athletic competition from his older sister, Billie Jean — that would be Billie-Jean King, the all-time tennis great.

But Moffitt was also a standout athlete. The 6-foot-3 right-hander’s dominance at Long Beach State University convinced the San Francisco Giants to select him in the first round (18th overall) in the January 1970 draft.

MLB debut with Giants

After parts of three seasons in the Giants’ minors, he made his big league debut on June 11, 1972. From there, he developed into one of the most reliable relievers in Giants’ history.

Over the next 10 seasons, he finished in the top 10 in saves four times and in appearances three times.

In 1973, he posted a 2.42 ERA and had 14 saves in 100 1/3 innings in 60 appearances for the Giants. Three years later, he was even better when he recorded career-bests in ERA (2.27) and innings pitched (103).

Mysterious illness

Moffitt continued to be a stalwart in the Giants’ bullpen until late in the 1978 season when he was sidelined by a mysterious ailment. For much of the next three years, he would suffer from nausea and lose 35 pounds while doctors searched for a diagnosis.

“By this point, baseball didn’t matter to me as much as the awful fear that I would never be well again,” Moffitt told John Robertson of the Toronto Sun. “The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with me. But it was like some monster was devouring me from the inside.”

Finally, a specialist was able to diagnose him with a rare disease called Cryptosporidium. He had a small tumor at the end of his colon and he underwent a procedure to cauterize it and the illness finally relented.

But not before the Giants released him on August 4, 1981.

Signed by Astros

Moffitt would sign with the Houston Astros on February 5, 1982. That season, he was shuttled between triple-A and the big leagues, but he still managed a solid 3.02 ERA in 30 appearances with the Astros.

Minor league deal with Blue Jays

Moffitt was a free agent again following the 1982 campaign and he would sign a minor league contract with the Blue Jays on February 15, 1983.

“My agent called four or five teams and Toronto made the most secure offer,” Moffitt told the Toronto Star.

On paper, it was a minor league deal, but the veteran Moffitt had no intention of going to triple-A.

“I’m not going to Syracuse,” Moffitt told the Toronto Star. “I either make the team or they have to release me . . . All I want is a chance to show what I can do, then I will have nobody to blame but myself if I don’t make it.”

Moffitt felt his could help the Blue Jays’ young bullpen corps.

“There are a lot of good young arms on this staff,” Moffitt told Robertson. “But I think they could use an experienced guy like me. Heck, I’m only 34. And the way I figure it, those three years when I was too busy throwing up to pitch, saved me a lot of wear and tear on my arm.”

Moffitt may have been on to something. He looked sharp and rejuvenated in spring training.

“This guy is starting to look like he did when he was one of the best relievers in the National League, with San Francisco,” Blue Jays pitching coach Al Widmar told the Toronto Star in mid-March. “He has a sinking fastball, a slider and now he’s working on a changeup.”

Cracks Blue Jays’ Opening Day roster

Moffitt continued to shut down his Grapefruit League opponents and he earned a spot on the Blue Jays’ Opening Day roster. He didn’t get into a regular season game until April 17, but once he did, he became Blue Jays best reliever that month, going 3-0 and without allowing a run in five appearances.

In fact, he was so good that he assumed the closer’s duties for a stretch in May. The veteran right-hander collected saves in four consecutive appearances between May 2 and May 17.

His save on May 2 was particularly impressive. He didn’t allow a hit in three scoreless innings in a 6-5 win over the Texas Rangers.

“He was keeping the ball down and throwing strikes, and that is what a sinkerball pitcher has to do,” his batterymate Ernie Whitt told the Toronto Star after the game.

Second-half woes

At the All-Star break, Moffitt was 3-0 with a 1.53 ERA with six saves and two holds.

Unfortunately, like most of the rest of the Blue Jays’ bullpen, Moffitt struggled in the season’s second half. His ERA in the final three months was 6.11 ERA and he made only two appearances in September.

Despite his second-half woes, Moffitt finished the season with a 6-2 record and a respectable 3.77 ERA in 45 appearances.

That off-season he signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers but he retired after pitching just one game for their triple-A Vancouver Canadians in 1984.

In all, in parts of 12 big league seasons, Moffitt finished with 43 wins, a 3.65 ERA and 96 saves in 534 appearances.

Honours

In 1986, Moffitt was inducted into the Long Beach State University Sports Hall of Fame.

Twenty-two years later, he was an inaugural inductee on to the San Francisco Giants’ Wall of Fame.

Moffitt is survived by his daughters, Miranda and Alysha and their husbands, as well as four grandchildren and his sister Billie-Jean King.