Twins' Moore was a 'baseball man through and through'

Minnesota Twins fans can thank former team executive Dave Moore, of Waconia, for the parades and post-season events in 1987 and 1991, when the Twins won the World Series.

Moore, who served in the Twins front office for 24 years and moved to the Colorado Rockies in the early 1990s, died of a heart attack while deer hunting on Saturday near Spring Lake, Minn. He was 63.

In 1963, he graduated from Cathedral High School in St. Cloud. In 1968, he joined the Twins front office, serving in accounting for the farm teams.

In the early 1970s, he received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul.

By the time he left the Twins organization, he had become its vice president of operations.

Next, he served for 15 years as an executive for the Colorado Rockies.

His wife, Sue, recalled that he telephoned colleagues at the Metrodome, who were waiting for the team to fly home, after it won the 1987 American League pennant in Detroit.

"He knew it would be televised, and he wanted the fans seated together," believing a sparse crowd in the Dome would look unappealing.

He needn't have worried. More than 55,000 were on hand. "He did not always show a lot of emotion, but he had a hard time holding on for that one," said his wife. "He had tears in his eyes."

"He was a baseball man through and through, but just as important, he had a wonderful sense of community," said Dave St. Peter, president of the Minnesota Twins.

In Minnesota and Colorado, he served on many civic boards, such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation-Minnesota. He was a founding board member of Twin Cities Tourism Attraction Association, and served as school board president for the former South Parks Catholic Schools in Minneapolis.

Jim Rantz, director of Twins minor league teams, called him a creative force, a man who would keep cool and "get it done."

In Denver during baseball season, he was instrumental in transforming Mile High Stadium, home of the NFL's Broncos, into a ball park for the Rockies before the team got its own stadium.

He led the Rockies' post-season celebrations and events in 2007, and was the All-Star Game coordinator in 1985 and 1998.

Moore, who retired and moved back to Minnesota this past year, enjoyed fishing and hunting, based out of the family cabin in Spring Lake.

In addition to his wife of 42 years, he is survived by a daughter, Amy Haben of Edina; a son, Tom of Silver Lake; his father, Donald of Sauk Rapids; two brothers, Terrence and Stephen, both of Eden Prairie; two sisters, Barbara Loewen of Richmond, Va., and Michelle Rademacher of Blaine, and two grandsons.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 2914 W. 44 St., Minneapolis.