Today is Memorial Day in the U.S.A., a holiday that owes its historical legs to, among others, the backing of one General John J. Murray. Which leads us to the fact that there have been 33 men (32 players and one manager) in major league history with the first, middle or last name "Murray." It remains to be seen ...
... whether or not we can cobble together a full 25-man roster from that short list of qualifiers; we'll have just one Hall of Famer (Steady Eddie, of course) and one other All-Star -- and for the latter, we'll have to relax our spelling rules a bit to allow 172-game winning RHSP Murry Dickson. Let's hope we have some speed on the basepaths or we'll feel pretty silly adopting the collegiate mascot name of ...
The Murray State Racers
* indicates Hall of Famer
** indicates All-Star
MGR: Billy Murray (240-214, 1907-09 PHI)
Lineup
C Ray "Deacon" Murray (.252, 1948-54)
1B Eddie C. Murray** (.287, 504 homers, three Gold Gloves)
2B Bill "Dasher" Murray (3-for-21 for 1917 WSH)
SS Murray "Moe" Franklin (.262, 1941-42 DET)
3B William Murray Werber (.271, 215 SB, 1930-42)
LF Vernon Murray Spencer (28-for-140 for 1920 NYG)
CF Calvin Murray (.231, 1999-2004)
RF John "Red" Murray (.270, 321 SB, 1906-17)
DH Murray "Red" Howell (2-for-7 with 1941 CLE)
Bench
C Miah Murray (.142, 1884-91)
SS Tom Murray (0-for-2 for 1894 PHI)
3B Bobby Murray (7-for-37 for 1923 WSH)
OF Jim Murray (.203, 1902, '11, '14)
OF Harold Murray McClure (2-for-6 with 1882 BSN)
OF Glenn Murray (.196 for 1996 PHI)
Rotation
RHSP Murry Dickson* (172-181, 1939-59)
RHSP Robert Murray Brown (14-7 for '32 BSN; 16-21 career)
RHSP George "Smiler" Murray (20-26, 1922-27, '33)
LHSP Joe Murray (0-3, 5.70 for 1950 PHA)
RHSP Robert Murray Gibson (1-0, 1890 CHC; 0-3, 1890 PIT)
Bullpen
CL-RHP Dale Murray (60 saves, 1974-85)
RHRP Murray Wall (13-14, 14 saves, 1950, '57-59)
LHRP Amby Murray (0-0, 4.09 in 4 games for 1936 BSN)
LHRP Heath Murray (2-15, 1997-2002)
RHRP Dan Murray (0-0, 5.76 for 1999-2000 NYM, KCR)
These guys don't make the cut, and if you've ever seen The Mary Tyler Moore Show on TV, you know why we call this ...
The Murray Slaughter
RHRP Matt Murray (0-3, 9.64 for 1995 ATL, BOS)
RHRP Pat Murray (0-2, 6.29 for 1919 PHI)
RHRP Jim Murray (0-0, 4.50 in 4 games for 1922 BRK)
SS Ed F. Murray (0-for-1 for 1917 SLB)
OF Larry Murray (.177, 1974-79)
OF Tony Murray (1-for-4 for 1923 CHC)
Notes ... 23 of the 32 "Murray" ballplayers bore that moniker as a last/family name, while just three, including our misspelled ace hurler and the infielder who went by "Moe," had that first/given name ... That's right, Dallas native and RHRP Murray Wall is the only player in the entire history of the game to both have and go by the first name "Murray" ... Hey, our fifth starter is Bob Gibson? Well, yes, but not THAT one ... in fact, this Gibby pitched in just four games and 21 innings in 1890, but still managed to finish second in the entire National League in hit batsmen with 10 ...
Settling in as our DH, Red Howell, also nicknamed "Porky," never appeared in the field in the big leagues, but pinch-hit in 11 games; with two hits and four walks, he "retired" with a robust career OBP of .545 ... Former Blue Jay Dale Murray, this team's closer, was the primary piece in two separate trades that landed his former club Tony Perez and Fred McGriff, respectively ...
Okay, so Canadian songstress Anne Murray can pipe the national anthems while American funnyman Bill Murray can lead the crowd in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch ... but how else can this team be better?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060529145120414