American baseball player (1908?1970)
Baseball player
Johnny Murphy
|
---|
Murphy in 1947
|
Pitcher
|
Born:
(
1908-07-14
)
July 14, 1908
New York City, New York
, U.S.
|
Died:
January 14, 1970
(1970-01-14)
(aged 61)
New York City, New York, U.S.
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
|
|
May 19, 1932, for the New York Yankees
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September 16, 1947, for the Boston Red Sox
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|
Win?loss record
| 93?53
|
---|
Earned run average
| 3.50
|
---|
Strikeouts
| 378
|
---|
Saves
| 107
|
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|
---|
|
|
|
|
John Joseph Murphy
(July 14, 1908 ? January 14, 1970) was an American
All-Star
right-handed
relief pitcher
in
Major League Baseball
(1932, 1934?1943, 1946?1947) who later became a front office executive in the game.
Yankees' relief ace
[
edit
]
After attending
Fordham University
in his native New York City, the 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 190 lb (86 kg) Murphy signed a professional contract with the
New York Yankees
in 1929. In 1934, his first full season with the Yankees, Murphy started 20 games (completing 10); for the remaining 11 years of his major league career, he would start only 20 games more, as he became one of the top bullpen specialists of his day. Moreover, his Yankees were one of the most powerful teams of all time, winning consecutive
World Series
championships from 1936 to 1939, and again in 1941 and 1943. Murphy's teammates included
Lou Gehrig
,
Joe DiMaggio
,
Bill Dickey
,
Red Ruffing
,
Lefty Gomez
?and, through 1934,
Babe Ruth
. Murphy spent his final year in the
American League
with the 1947
Boston Red Sox
.
Overall, he appeared in 415 games, 383 as a Yankee, winning 93, losing 53 (for a winning percentage of .637) with an
earned run average
of 3.50. He led the AL in wins for a relief pitcher seven times. While the
save
was not then an official statistic, Murphy four times led the AL in that category, and he was the first pitcher to reach 100 career saves, finishing with 107. In 1,045 career
innings pitched
, he allowed more
bases on balls
(444) than
strikeouts
(378), and 985
hits
. His career
WHIP
was 1.367.
[1]
In eight World Series games and
16
+
1
⁄
3
innings (spread over six different Series), Murphy won two games, lost none, saved four, and posted an ERA of 1.10. Nicknamed "Fordham Johnny", "Fireman" and "Grandma" (either for his rocking-chair pitching motion, or his fastidious nature
[2]
), Murphy was on seven World Series winning teams, the most of any pitcher in history.
Executive with Red Sox and Mets
[
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]
When his playing days ended, Murphy briefly
scouted
for the Red Sox, then entered the Boston front office when owner
Tom Yawkey
appointed him Director of Minor League Operations. Murphy spent 13 seasons running the Red Sox'
farm
and scouting systems until his dismissal following the
1960
season. In 1961, he joined former Yankees farm director and general manager
George Weiss
in the front office of Gotham's
National League
expansion team, the
New York Mets
.
Rising to the position of vice president, Murphy briefly donned a uniform and joined the Mets' coaching staff for the final 11 games of the
1967
campaign during
Salty Parker
's term as acting manager. Then, following that season, Murphy returned to the Met front office and took over the
general manager
responsibilities when
Bing Devine
rejoined his longtime employers, the
St. Louis Cardinals
. As one of his final tasks, Devine secured the services of
manager
Gil Hodges
, under contract to the
Washington Senators
, by sending Washington $100,000 and pitcher
Bill Denehy
on November 27, 1967, as compensation.
[3]
Front-office boss of "Miracle Mets"
[
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]
Murphy's promotion to the GM role coincided with the Mets' unveiling of some of the best young pitching talent of the era?including
Tom Seaver
,
Nolan Ryan
,
Jerry Koosman
,
Tug McGraw
, and others. The
1968 club
posted 73 victories, best in their seven-season history, and finished out of the NL basement for only the second time.
Then, with Hodges in command?and with the contributions of Murphy acquisitions
Tommie Agee
,
Donn Clendenon
and
Al Weis
?the
1969 Miracle Mets
stunned the baseball community by winning the
National League East
, sweeping
Atlanta
in the
NLCS
, then defeating a heavily favored
Baltimore Orioles
squad in five
World Series
games.
The Sporting News
named Murphy the 1969 winner of its
Executive of the Year Award
.
Death
[
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]
However, only 2
1
⁄
2
months after the World Series, on December 30, Murphy was hospitalized after he suffered a
heart attack
. He died at age 61 early on January 14, 1970, in New York's
Roosevelt Hospital
.
[4]
He was succeeded by
Bob Scheffing
. Murphy was interred in
Woodlawn Cemetery
in
The Bronx
.
His older brother
Thomas
was a federal prosecutor and judge.
[5]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
MLB career statistics for Johnny Murphy
,
Baseball Reference
- ^
Vorperian, John.
"Johnny Murphy"
.
Society for American Baseball Research
Biography Project
. Retrieved
16 July
2018
.
- ^
"Ultimate Mets Database - Bill Denehy"
. Ultimatemets.com
. Retrieved
2020-04-06
.
- ^
Cady, Steve (January 15, 1970).
"Johnny Murphy is Dead at 61; General Manager of the Mets"
(PDF)
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
February 17,
2015
.
- ^
Van Gelder, Lawrence (October 31, 1995).
"Thomas Murphy, Police Head And Prosecutor of Hiss, 89"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
February 17,
2015
.
External links
[
edit
]