Newman Park.

“We’ve celebrated most of our anniversaries at baseball parks,” Jeanie said with a laugh. “We’ve had a lot of hotdogs.”

Those Newman Park hotdogs hold a lot of history.

Nearly 30 years have passed since the Moores enjoyed their first hotdog together at Catawba College’s baseball field, which the Rowan County American Legion baseball team calls home.

In the summers of 1970-71, Jack pitched for the Legion team. In the 1990s, their son Sandy took to the mound for both Catawba and Rowan County.

Now it’s Daniel’s turn. But things aren’t quite as simple for Jack and Jeanie’s youngest son, a 6-foot-6 left-hander who just graduated from North Rowan High School.

Daniel’s good. Better than Jack and Sandy ever were. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wanted him, but Moore is so good that he’ll be drafted this week in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft.

“The natural ability, I don’t know where that came from,” Jack said. “Sandy and I never had that. We had to work hard to get where we were.”

Where the Moore family stands now is just fine, with or without a professional baseball player in the ranks. Jack works for BellSouth, Jeanie at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. Sandy went to Catawba and is currently a graduate assistant baseball coach at Virginia Tech.

And despite the impending draft, Jack and Jeanie can enjoy one more long summer at Newman Park, including their anniversary night of June 22.

Daniel’s taking UNC up on its offer, not pro baseball.

“I weighed 125 pounds, and Marty Brennaman called me ‘The Blade,’ ” he said of Rowan County’s Legion radio voice at the time. “I could hide behind a rake handle. I never batted my weight.”

Jack remembers getting two hits in one game, and the stats back him up — barely. “Jackie Moore,” as he was called then, went 3-for-40 in 1970 for a crisp .075 batting average.

Moore made his biggest impact for the Rowan team in the 1970-71 seasons from the mound. The left-hander combined to go 14-8 and strike out 195 batters in 1671

Jeanie, an East Rowan graduate, spent plenty of time at Newman Park watching her brother, Kip Honeycutt.

“Jeanie’s brother asked me to take her home one night. I kind of had my eye on her anyway,” Jack said with a grin. “I’ve been taking her home ever since.”

Athleticism runs in the family. Jeanie’s first cousin is Darrell Misenheimer, father of East Rowan state wrestling and shotput champion Danny. Kip Honeycutt’s son is Ryan, member of Salisbury High’s 1995 and 1998 state championship golf teams. Stan Honeycutt, Jeanie’s other brother, has a well-known daughter at North Rowan, Megan, who earned a full basketball scholarship to UNC Greensboro.

Daniel’s older brother, Sandy, helped the 1993 Rowan Legion team to another state championship. The right-hander didn’t overpower —he only struck out 139 batters in 202 innings — but he did know how to win. Sandy finished his three-year Legion career with a 17-5 record and 3.06 earned run average.

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The same year Sandy’s team won a state championship, Daniel Moore claimed a batting crown in Spencer’s “A” League. At the time, the gangly youth was a far better hitter and fielder than pitcher.

“He pitched some in Little League, but we never knew what he would do,” Jack said. “He couldn’t find the plate.”

Daniel’s attention soon wandered to basketball, and it wasn’t until he stopped growing that he figured out what a tall, lean frame meant for a pitcher.

“I hit a growth spurt between eighth and 10th grade. I grew 8 inches and lost a lot of coordination,” Moore said. “Once I got to where I knew what I was doing these last two years, I just love being out here. I love pitching.”

Mike Fox, head coach of the UNC baseball team, didn’t need too long to figure that out.

“Daniel and his parents have a genuine love for baseball,” Fox said. “He loves to play the game. You combine that love for the game with his ability, hopefully you get something out of that.”

It didn’t take long for Moore’s parents to fall in love with Fox’s message, either.

“What really won us over was the three hours Coach Fox spent at our house talking about what he expected out of Daniel Moore,” Jack explained. “He said, ‘We don’t go out unless we’re clean-shaven, we don’t use profanity, we don’t wear our hats backwards …”

“… No earrings,” chimed in Jeanie with a laugh.

“He said, ‘I’d love to have you, but if you can’t fit in with that, then I’ll tell you good luck and send you on your way,” added Jack.

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Fox follows a long line of coaches responsible for Daniel Moore’s development as a pitcher. Bill Kesler and Paul Benfield did the work at North Rowan, Jim DeHart and Jim Gantt in the Legion season.

“There’s not a one of them who can’t take some credit for his success,” Jack said. “The Little League program in Spencer is a tremendous program. There are people who have been coaching 15-20 years, and they’ve got to take some credit for that North ballclub and Daniel’s success.”

One of those coaches in particular has been more critical than others, but hey, what are brothers for?

“To do the things I did in the last two years, there’s going to be a lot of people telling you, ‘Great job, you’re the best.’ Once you hear that, you really don’t have as much pushing you,” Daniel said. “Sandy, there’s little things he notices. He’s my criticizer. He always points out the bad stuff I do, and that’s good. I need that.”

After all, Sandy knows what he’s talking about. So do Mom and Dad, which is why Daniel Moore turned to them for advice when it came time to make his big decision.

They all agreed.

“What we talked about with the scouts is that we didn’t set out to raise a professional baseball player. We raised our kid for college,” Jeanie said. “We don’t know how to prepare a kid for a career in pro sports. It’s too overwhelming, and you sure can’t do it in two months.”