Fans’ Jeering Plagued Moore, His Widow Says

Tonya Moore, widow of former Angel pitcher Donnie Moore, blames fans who continually jeered her husband for contributing to the frustration that eventually induced him to shoot her and kill himself, according to an article in the February issue of GQ.

Tonya Moore is also quoted as saying her husband beat her “to a pulp” when she was 19 and struck her again the night he gave up a two-out, two-strike home run to Dave Henderson, which allowed the Boston Red Sox to overcome a ninth-inning Angel lead and eventually win the game and the 1986 American League championship.

Although he had 31 saves in 1985--still a club record--Moore was booed by Angel fans after giving up Henderson’s home run and was never able to match his previous success.

“I’ll never forgive the fans for what they did to my husband. Never, ever,” the magazine quotes Tonya Moore as saying.

After recovering from bullet wounds to her neck and chest after the incident in the couple’s Anaheim Hills home July 18, 1989, Tonya Moore spent two months in a mental hospital. She told GQ that her two sons still require therapy.