The year after his retirement, he became a manager, and he led two teams to their first-ever modern-era National League championships: the 1915 Philadelphia Phillies and the 1919 Cincinnati Reds.

A native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts,[1] Moran played 819 games over 14 National League seasons for the Boston Beaneaters (1901–05), Chicago Cubs (1906–09) and Phillies (1910–14).

In 1913–1914, he was a player-coach and, guided by his support and counsel, Phillies right-hander Grover Cleveland Alexander developed into one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

Moran swung some astute trades, acquiring key players Dave Bancroft (a Baseball Hall of Famer like Alexander), Bert Niehoff and Milt Stock.

With baseball disrupted by World War I (and with the December 11, 1917, trade of Alexander to the Cubs) the Phillies sank below .500 in 1918 and Moran was fired.

Cincinnati Reds manager Christy Mathewson, the former pitching great, had been stricken with tuberculosis from exposure to poison gas during military maneuvers.

The cause of death was listed as Bright's Disease, a kidney ailment, but some baseball historians ascribe Moran's fatal illness to alcoholism.