Monday, August 18, 2014

#320 - Dale Murphy


What a card: This card arrived in packs after Dale Murphy hit 36 home runs and drove in at least 100 runs for the third straight year. Yet he did not win the National League MVP for the third straight year. He finished ninth. Slacker.

My observation on the front: That is a good look at the ever-present birthmark on Murphy's right cheek.

More opinion from me: Is that two different shades of blue between the jersey top and pants? Not cool.

Something you might know: Probably the most productive National League hitter of the 1980s, Murphy started out as a catcher, but struggled behind the plate. His career took off after he converted to the outfield.

Something you might not know: When Murphy ended his consecutive games played streak at 740 games in July of 1986, the honor for the longest active streak fell to eventual ironman champion Cal Ripken Jr., who had played in 686 straight games at the time.


My observation on the back: Every current major league manager is looking at this trivia quiz and saying, "So? Is this a big deal?"

The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames tab is updated.

2 comments:

Andy said...

Murphy actually had the 3rd most NL batting runs in the 1980s, a distant 3rd behind Schmidt and somebody you should have rated higher:

http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/BpqJ6

Rob said...

My little brother's favorite player was Dale Murphy, and I used to tease him about the mole on his butt cheek matching the mole on Murphy's face.