1980 Topps card of San Francisco Giant Rich Murray (Topps Chewing Gum Company photo)
Rich Murray – 1B – 1980, 1983 – # 29
By Tony the Tiger Hayes
When it comes to garbage can worthy Giants seasons of the Candlestick Park era, you have to place 1980 near the top of the lid.
The club that went a putrid 75-86, finishing fifth in the NL West, left a rancid smell wafting in the air for hard core San Francisco fans.
Not one player enjoyed anything close to a career defining season. Even the club’s lone mandatory All-Star game representative, RHP Eddy Whitson, didn’t even make it into the Mid-Summer Classic contest due to a blistered finger.
On the field, and especially in the clubhouse, the Giants were in turmoil.
And unlike the top clubs who keep clubhouse disagreements on low simmer, these Giants openly bickered.
The Orange & Black clubhouse was divided between stereotypical baseball beer guzzlers and skirt chasers and a growing faction of Christian Giants known as the “God Squad.”
Though the clean living group of ball players were idea role models for young fans, the collection of a half dozen “God Squaders” were widely believed to be more passionate about thumping bibles than playing win-at-costs hardball.
Camaraderie in general was so bad within the Giants that unpopular manager Dave Bristol even resorted to fisticuffs to deal with an insubordinate John Montefusco.
The pugnacious pilot – cold-cocked the lippy pitcher after the 1975 Rookie of the Year threw an on field tantrum, upstaging the skipper. The physical confrontation left the “Count” with a black eye and a suggestion that the club drop a couch in the clubhouse and hire a team shrink.
If fan moral wasn’t bad enough at this juncture it took a turn for the worse when both of the club’s veteran first basemen: all-time Giants great Willie McCovey and the mercurial Mike Ivie abruptly announced their retirements from baseball a third into the season.
The departure of the beloved 42-year old McCovey was not unexpected. The Giant, who burst onto the national sports scene with San Francisco in 1959 with a 4-for-4 debut and had amassed a spectacular 521 career home runs, was now restricted to pinch hitting duties due to badly damaged knees that would detrimentally affect him for the rest of his life.
The sudden exit of longtime McCovey caddie, Ivie, 28, was more shocking. Announcing he had lost the passion for professional sports, the slugger said he was immediately stepping away from baseball. (Ivie, who was plagued by mental health issues throughout his baseball career, would suddenly “unretire” and return to the Giants about a month later.)
If ever a Giants club deserved a partnership with Hefty trash bags – the 1980 Bay City Boppers were the one.
Nothing went right for the Giants in 1980.
Even the rare feel good moment of the 1980 campaign- McCovey’s game winning walk-off pinch hit in his final home game vs. the rival Dodgers – was bittersweet.
But hope rings eternal in most die-hard fans of losing ball clubs and the loyal 8,000 who regularly turned up at Orange & Black home games that summer hoped to find a silver lining in the conga line of nine first-time big leaguers the Giants promoted to the big leagues that season.
For a while, the call-up with the most buzz was first baseman Rich Murray, the slim hipped, 6-foot-4, younger brother of Baltimore Orioles superstar Eddie Murray.
Recalled to the major league roster in early June, the Los Angeles native began his Giants career at a torrid pace and was soon prematurely anointed the second coming of “Big Mac” by optimistic San Francisco fans and even the big man himself.
The eternally good-hearted McCovey went out of his way to mention Murray in his retirement press conference, suggesting the youngster’s splendid Orange & Black introduction made his decision to step away from baseball easier.
“I’ve said all along that I would keep playing until one young phenom forced me to retire. It looks like that phenom as arrived,” McCovey said at the media gathering (6/22/80).
Murray also had the backing other established Giants.
“He’s exciting. He gets me excited, too. It will take some pressure off me,” said star right fielder Jack Clark. “Another thing I like is his size. From right field I was looking at him standing next to (Mike) Schmidt and (Greg) Luzinski. He was three inches taller than those guys – and those are the big boys. He makes our team look more powerful.”
Left fielder Larry Herndon chimed in: “I just like the dude. He’s a quiet, happy guy. He’s comfortable because he’s been with us in spring training and with his brother and everything he’s been around major leaguers before. He’s not awed by anybody here.”
The Giants brass was less outwardly over the moon about the kid, but agreed he would get a full shot to win the first base job. After all, Mac would soon decamp the clubhouse and Ivie was already in the wind.
“Murray’s got great strength and a lot of all around tools,” said Giants batting coach Jim Lefebvre. “He can hit, run and covers a lot of ground at first base. We want to work to keep him. We can sure use his bat.”
But if there were any lingering misgivings about handing the keys to first base to Murray it didn’t take long for red flags to unfurl in the ‘Stick wind currents.
Instead of simply thanking “Stretch” for his gracious personal endorsement, Murray played it California Cool.
“Nobody told me anything,” claimed Murray when asked about Mac’s advocacy. “I just go out and do my job. I don’t see Willie’s retiring as anything different. Someday, I think I can be as good as Willie.”
But while Murray may have sounded ungrateful to the average Giants fans – knowing the young man’s hard scrabble life to that point, you might be more apt to understand any apprehensions he may have felt about any promises from establishment figures.
Why Was He a Giant?
Born in 1957, the ninth of 12 children, Richard Murray was just eight years old when he witnessed the horrors of the infamous Los Angeles Watts Riots of 1965, sparked in part by the widely perceived racist practices of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The tragic six day uproar that ransacked South Central L.A. and left 34 dead and plunged the once thriving predominantly black community into shambles from to rampant violence, arson and looting.
The Murray family over came these dreadful conditions by focusing on sports. Though Eddie – the third oldest – was the most gifted – all five Murray brothers would play professional baseball in some form.
Both Eddie and Rich graduated from South Central’s Locke High School, an experimental, black run educational facility built upon the ashes of the riots and opened in 1967.
After batting .348 as a senior, (eight percentage points better than fellow future Forever Giant Ed Jurak of San Pedro High) Rich was selected in the sixth round of the 1975 amateur draft by San Francisco.
At age 17, Murray immediately left hectic Los Angeles for the exotic location of Great Falls, Montana to enter pro ball with the Giants Rookie League affiliate in the Pioneer League.
But unlike older brother Eddie who took pro ball by storm, the lanky 195 pound Rich had more of a soft opening to his career – collecting just 20 extra base hits in his first two seasons of pro ball.
It wasn’t until the 1977 season and Murray’s second stint at Class-A Cedar Rapids that the light came on for the 19-year-old. In 129 games Rich batted .275, slugged 21 homers and drove in 94 runs.
More importantly perhaps, Murray, just 19, was having a great time. On a Quarter Beer Night game promotion that drew 1,529 thirsty Iowans, Murray slashed three hits in the 8-4 victory. He batted over .400 in the second half of the Little Giants season.
Perhaps inspired by brother Eddie’s meteoric rise to big league success, earning 1977 AL Rookie of the Year honors with Baltimore, Rich officially became a Giants prospect when the club skipped him over Double-A promoted him all the way to Triple-A Phoenix in 1978.
Now the youngster was facing the cream of the crop of minor league arms – some on the way to the majors and many pitchers who had tasted the Show and deserved wanted back in.
Murray, 20, stood firm, batting .281 as the Phoenix Giants regular first baseman – but his home run total dwindled to just five – not that impressive in a notorious hitters paradise like the Pacific Coast League. Murray had a near duplicate season with Phoenix in 1979.
Murray returned to Phoenix for a third straight season in 1980, but he didn’t linger long among the cactus that summer. With McCovey on his last legs and Ivie possibly checking himself into a rubber room, the Giants beckoned.
A day after his 23rd birthday (6/7/80), Murray made his big league debut, starting at first base and batting sixth, vs. Joe Niekro at the Houston Astrodome). Murray went 0-for-3, with a strikeout. He did however steal a base off the knuckleballer, after reaching base on a 5th inning force out.
He also went without a hit in his next game against Houston’s dominating Nolan Ryan.
It didn’t get easier with Steve Carlton up next, but Rich yanked his first base hit off the Phillies Hall of Famer in a 3-1 win at Philadelphia (6/9/80). “Lefty” had fanned Murray twice earlier in the game.
The ability to make hard contact off an all-time baseball legend, gave the young player a burst on confidence and he was suddenly off and running – cranking base hits in 12 of his next 13 games – all starts at first base.
On the day McCovey announced his retirement plans at Candlestick Park (6/22/80), Murray again smoked a base hit off Carlton in 4-3 home loss to the Phillies before a ‘Stick crowd of 27,313.
At that point Murray was batting a robust .305. With McCovey’s official exit date set for the upcoming All-Star Game break, it appeared Murray was the team’s clear and present first baseman of the future.
Murray was one of the first Giants to mob McCovey after the legend lined a walk-off, game winning pinch-hit single off Los Angeles’ Bobby Castillo in McCovey’s “unofficial” official goodbye game at San Francisco fans a week later (6/29/80), in a 4-3 win in the first game of a doubleheader at a packed Candlestick Park.
The game ended with an emotional curtain call from the 50,229 strong who clearly loved Big Mac.
The adoration for Murray meanwhile had begun to cool like summer night on Candlestick Point.
Perhaps overburdened by the sudden expectations of replacing a soon to be Hall of Famer or advance scouts had simply done their due diligence, for what ever reason, Murray had suddenly plunged into a deep slump, batting a miserable 1-for-25 in the days after Mac’s retirement announcement.
The skid included an 0-for-8 day with three strike outs and four stranded runners, over the course of the twin-bill (LA won the nightcap, 3-0).
After taking an 0-for-4 the following night in a 8-4 home win vs. the Reds, Murray’s batting average stood at .216, a drop of 80 points within a week’s time.
In McCovey’s final final Giants game – a 4-3 win at Los Angeles, in which Mac exited the big stage with an RBI sacrifice fly – Murray appeared to get his season back on track with a three hit game in front of scores of friends and family members.
As promised, Rich was in the Giants lineup and starting at first base vs. visiting San Diego when the regular season resumed after the All-Star break.
Murray was even presented with McCovey’s former locker stall in the Giants home clubhouse.
In his second at-bat of the game Murray clobbered a searing drive off the Padres Randy Jones past San Diego center fielder Jerry Mumphrey’s outstretched glove.
As the ball bounded to the outfield fence, Murray and got on his horse and sprinted around second.
Clark and Herndon scored on the drive, but as Murray reached third he made an ill-advisedly head first dive into third base, jamming his right hand into the bag before Aurelio Rodriguez applied a late tag.
Murray was forced on to the disabled list with torn ligaments in his right ring finger.
Ivie had returned to get most of the first base starts in Murray’s absence, but was not particularly impressive.
When he returned to the active roster two months later, Murray received plenty of opportunities to take a firm hold on a starting job going forward. But there was no significant magic produced in his at-bats
Murray’s final major league stat line for 1980 read: 53 games, .216 batting ave., 4 HR, 24 RBI.
He Never Had a Giants Bobblehead Day. But…
Though the rookie had been in the majors less than a week, San Francisco manager Bristol anointed Murray his cleanup hitter in a game at Philadelphia (6/11/80).
As if on cue, the big league trainee came through like a seasoned slugger, walloping a two-run home run in the first inning off future Forever Giant Randy Lerch.
Murray followed in a run scoring single in the third off Lerch; and a broken bat RBI single in the seventh off Dickie Noles for a 3-for-5, 4 RBI day in a 7-4 Giants win.
The comparisons to older brother Eddie, who was currently enjoying an All-Star season with Baltimore were pouring in over the Giants clubhouse transom.
“I just hope he’s half as good as his brother,”said Giants manager Bristol.
The comparisons to his All-Star sibling extended beyond the playing field to include Eddie’s growing hostile approach to media relations.
The notepad and bic pen crowd were quick to jot that Rich only mumbled a few cliches and terse platitudes before strolling off to the showers following his big game at Philly.
Murray perceived high opinion of himself did not go unnoticed by many in the clubhouse, but McCovey, forever the seminal sportsman, requested patience with his apprentice.
“The main thing I’ve talked to him about is his attitude – he didn’t have the best,”McCovey said in Philadelphia.
Bristol who had been tracking Murray since 1978 saw a maturing process in the angular infielder that may not be as evident to the average punter.
“Three springs ago I liked Murray, the next spring I didn’t like his attitude,” Bristol said, frankly. “He has a super attitude now, I’m pulling for him.”
Giant Footprint
As expected the Giants cleaned house at the end of the 1980 season with both Bristol and Montefusco among others shown the door.
In December the Giants traded LHP Bob Knepper, a “God Squad” mainstay to Houston with veteran infielder Enos Cabell headed to the bay to play first base.
Cabell would share first base in 1981 with Dave Bergman – also acquired from Houston with OF Jeffrey Leonard in a separate a trade for Ivie.
After an ordinary performance at spring camp in 1981, Murray was outrighted to Triple-A Phoenix. He spent the entire season with the desert based outfit. The following winter, Cleveland plucked Murray out of the Giants system in the “Rule 5” minor league draft.
After Murray failed to make the Indians big league team in 1982, the Giants chose not to pay Cleveland a nominal fee to to bring him back to the Orange & Black organization.
However, after brief stints in the minors with Cleveland and Montreal, Murray actually resigned with the Giants organization in 1983.
The Giants shocked Murray when they brought him back to the parent club for a brief stint in mid-‘83 after he began at Phoenix batting .299, 9, 44.
“His face lit up like a Christmas tree when I told him,” said Phoenix manager Jack Mull, upon delivering the player’s marching orders. “He got so pumped up that he went out and hit a ball right over the center-field wall, really smoked it.”
But the return trip to San Francisco was brief. Over four games – including two starts – Murray batted 2-for-10, with a RBI before being optioned back to Tripe-A.
He never made it back to the majors leagues again.
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