Tom Gardner wrote:

I have to mill 32 round pockets into an AL plate. The pockets range from
2.125" dia. x .180" deep to 2.625" dia. x 1.80 deep. This plate will be a
mold for injecting Urethane into thin wire wheel brushes that are used to
clean grooves and such. This encapsulating process is done by another
company that is a trading partner and good friends. They just don't have
much machining capability. In return, I get a hot stamping machine that I
have good use for.

Very much like this:
http://atdtools.com/8245

My first thought is to use a large end mill and do the center of the pocket
then enlarge the dia. with a boring head. Any other ideas?

If you don't have CNC capability, I think you're on the right track. I
would mark the full dia and rough it out with the large end mill (not
just the center) so that you minimize the passes with the boring head to
final dia. With a CNC the circular interpolation would to it all in one
setup with no fuss.