‘Murph, you WILL be missed by many.’
Remarks about Bill Murphy delivered by Marc Blau at Bill’s
funeral service which started at noon on June 1, 2024, at Centro de Vida
Familar, 6511 South C St. in Tacoma.
One of seven children of a career Army
man, Bill Murphy was born in Winfield, Louisiana, but lived most of his life in
Tacoma.
A 1962 Clover Park High
School graduate. Bill was three-sport athlete who played baseball for Coach
Holly Gee.
He was signed by scout
Eddie Taylor of the New York Yankees for an $8,000 bonus right out of high
school as an amateur free agent and began his minor league career at age 18,
playing four seasons in the Yankees minor league system. He was then taken by
the New York Mets in 1965 in the Rule 5 Draft.
An outfielder, Bill
made his Major League debut for the Mets on April 15, 1966, appearing in 84
games for the club. What a thrill it must have been for Bill when his first Major
League hit was a 3-run home run against the San Francisco Giants on May 13,
1966 at Shea Stadium.
As I
was preparing these comments it suddenly hit me that Bill passed away on May
13, 2024--exactly 58 years ago that he got his first major league hit.
One other
interesting note is that one of his teammates with the Mets was a 19 year-old
pitcher and future Hall of Famer by the name of --- Nolan Ryan.
Murph then played 106
games for the Seattle Angels of the Pacific Coast League in 1967. Overall, he
played 8 seasons of minor league ball with his last season being with the
Tacoma Cubs of the PCL in 1970 where he played in 22 games. His last game was
played on Sept. 2 in Spokane against the Indians-he started in left field and
then moved over to first base, was 1 for 5 with a double and scored a run for
the Cubs who lost to the Indians 10-8.
A few other
tidbits—Bill played basketball at Ft Steilacoom Community College and his old
coach, Jack Scott, now in his 90’s said that Bill had tremendous leadership and
attitude qualities which is high praise for anyone. And in the Spring of 1975
Bill became the college’s first baseball coach as well.
Some of you may have seen a neat photo of four players from Tacoma who were all stationed at Ft. Lewis at the same time—and all who played in the major leagues...Bill, Rick Austin, Steve Whitaker and Ron Cey.
I spoke to Rick Austin
recently and he shared, “All I can say about Bill is
that he was a Class Act both on and off the field/court! I remember watching
him play basketball and baseball at Clover Park. Our Army Reserve Unit was
enjoyable with Bill, Ron and Whit hanging around. Getting to take time for
photos and an occasional lunch with the Commanding Officer were nice breaks
from the training.
I’ve had the privilege
of getting to know a lot of players from the Tacoma-Pierce County area that had
the talent and skill to play professional baseball and most are more than happy
to spend time talking about their careers--and understandably so.
In 2020 we inducted
Bill into the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Hall of Fame but prying out
information about his career was a challenge.
As talented and
accomplished as Bill was, getting him to talk about his career in baseball was
like trying to pull teeth --Not easy. It
took a lot of convincing that he WAS worthy of the induction and until he walked
into the convention center that evening I wasn’t sure he actually would show
up.
Bill was just very
humble about his career and not terribly impressed about himself. And, he was
definitely not one to be showy or seek the limelight or accolades. He just loved playing baseball. Murph, you
WILL be missed by many.
………….
ABOUT MARC BLAU -- Author Marc H. Blau, a native of Tacoma and
a Puyallup resident , is a longtime collector of Tacoma-Pierce County sports
artifacts and is a devoted baseball historian. Co-founder of the Shanaman
Sports Museum Marc proudly shares his personal photograph collection, as well
as images from fellow baseball and fastpitch softball enthusiasts.
