William Eugene "Bill" Murphy
(Updated
6/9/2024)
Bill
Murphy, a right-handed hitting outfielder for the New York Mets of Major League
Baseball during the 1966 season, died at age 80 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington,
on May 13, 2024.
Link
to his obituary from Mountain View Memorial Park in Lakewood, Pierce County,
Washington:
https://www.mountainviewtacoma.com/obituaries/William-Murphy-83/#!/Obituary
Born
May 7, 1944 in Winnfield, Winn Parish, Louisiana, he and his wife, Carmen,
lived in University Place, Pierce County, Washington.
He grew up in Germany (where his father was stationed in the U.S.
Army) and, later, in Lakewood, Pierce County, a suburb of Tacoma.
At Clover Park High School in Lakewood, he was an outstanding baseball
and basketball player for Clover Park High School in Lakewood, graduating in
1962.
After his professional baseball career, he attended what is now
Pierce College in Lakewood. He played basketball for Pierce College and was
also its first baseball coach.
Bill Murphy turned down a basketball scholarship from Seattle
University and signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent out of
high school. He was taken by the New York Mets in the 1965 Rule 5 Draft. His most
productive pro baseball season was in 1965 at Class A Binghamton, batting .291
with 18 home runs and 85 RBI earning a spot on the Mets roster for 1966.
During eight Minor League Baseball seasons he played for the Harlan,
Kentucky Smokies; Idaho Falls, Idaho, Yankees; Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
Yankees; Greensboro, North Carolina, Yankees; Binghamton, New York Triplets; Seattle,
Washington, Angels; Jacksonville, Florida, Suns; (Little Rock) Arkansas
Travelers; Tacoma, Washington, Cubs, Portland, Oregon, Beavers and the Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Oilers.
Bill Murphy was known as a good defensive outfielder, but his
career didn’t start that way. He had been an infielder in high school and
earlier in the minors and credits his emergence as an outfielder for the
lessons he received from Yankee legend Joe DiMaggio in spring training 1964,
along with coaching from Wally Moses, Jim Gleeson and Jack Reed. In an article
in The Sporting News, Murphy noted about his spring work: “I caught I
don’t know how many balls a day … two or three hundred, I guess.” In one July
1965 minor league game for the Binghamton Yankees, he threw out runners at
three different bases.
Murphy debuted in the Major Leagues three weeks before his 22nd
birthday as a Mets pinch runner on April 15, 1966.
His first Major League hit was a 3-run home run against Ray Sadecki
of the San Francisco Giants on May 13, 1966 at the Mets’ Shea Stadium in New
York. Murphy finished the 17-inning game 3-for-6. Murphy went on to appear in
84 games for the Mets.
He finished the 1966 season – his lone season in Major League
Baseball -- with 31 hits in 135 at bats (.230 average) and tallied three home
runs, 13 runs batted in, and one stolen base. One of his Mets teammates was a
19-year-old pitcher Nolan Ryan.
After the Mets, he spent four seasons in the minors, spending time
in the Mets, Angels, Cardinals, Brewers, and Cubs organizations from 1967
through 1970.
Bill Murphy played in the Pacific Coast League for the Seattle
Angels in 1967 and the Tacoma Cubs in 1970, his final season. Over eight minor
league seasons, Murphy had 2,167 at bats resulting in 43 home runs, 262 RBI and
52 steals. Primarily an outfielder, Murphy played some at first base, third
base and catcher while trying to work his way back to the Majors.
FOOTNOTES
-Some
online sources say his birthplace was Pineville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana. His
family says he was born in Winnfield, Winn Parish, Louisiana. (Winnfield and Pineville
are about 48 miles apart. )
-He’s
sometimes identified as “Billy,” but his family says he preferred “Bill.” His full
name was William Eugene Murphy, born May 7, 1944. There is another Major Leaguer
named Bill Murphy: William R.W. Murphy, born May 9, 1981.
-Some sources incorrectly say his nickname was
“Murph the Surf.”
