Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The eternal joy of Bob Murphy

Bob Murphy had a level of joy and optimism in his broadcasts. He was called a "homer" (rooting for the home team), but I don't think that's quite an accurate description. He was an eternal optimist when it came to the New York Mets. I'm sure it had evolved over time. Maybe it came with age. He was already 62 by the time I first heard him. Even older when I first started to understand who and what I was listening to.

But there was also a sense of joy in the success of the Mets, and in baseball in general. And there was just a way about him that probably had nothing to do with his rooting interests in the club. You hear it in the emphasis of certain words - "a HIGH fly ball hit DEEP to right field" on a call of a Mets homerun. Maybe that was his way of putting color in his painted word picture.

Outside of the 1986 World Series, he might be best remembered for a bit of frustration over a game ending with the Mets barely hanging on to win.


And my favorite sound byte of Bob Murphy. This from the first Spring Training broadcast in 1998. It was most likely the first time any of us had heard his voice since the end of the 1997 season, and this is a point when optimism and joy were at its peak in a season (especially after he gets through the advertisements).


With all due respect to Howie Rose and Gary Cohen, Bob Murphy was forever the voice of the Mets. It was 7 years ago that Mets fans lost Bob Murphy at the age of 79. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times remembered him at the time here.


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Posted by DyHrdMET at 8:17 AM
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metsadhd's avatar

metsadhd · 712 weeks ago

Gosh, those early days were wonderful.
Just to have baseball back in New York.
The 1969 season was like your first kiss, unforgettable.
Announced and commented upon by indelible voices and personalities.
Godspeed(or Cosmic Muffin speed for we agnostics and atheists).
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JAMES MACK's avatar

JAMES MACK · 712 weeks ago

BOB MURPHY COULD PAINT A PICTURE OF A BALL GAME BETTER THAN DEGAS COULD PAINT A BALLERINA. HIS DECRIPTION OF.MOOKIE WILSON'S HIT THROUGH THE LEGS OF BILLY BUCKNER IS A CLASSIC.
SOMETIMES I WOULD TURN DOWN THE SOUND ON THE TV AND LISTEN .TO BOB DESCRIBE THE ACTION..
JIM MACK, BRICK NJ.
MET FAN SINCE 1962
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James Sala's avatar

James Sala · 712 weeks ago

Murphy,Kiner and Nelson. The Best , The METS
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Jim's avatar

Jim · 712 weeks ago

I have been a fan of this team since the early 70's. Of course my parents would not have allowed me to be a fan of ano other team. But there was nothing better then listening to that voice call the games. He had a way of getting you excited for a win and consoling you after a loss. As great as Gary Cohen and Howie rose are, and I ma sure they will agree, they are no Bob Murphy. Thanks for remembering him.
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Kathleen Lockwood · 712 weeks ago

Bob Murphy was such an exceptional broadcaster because he was such an exceptionally positive human being. Bob kept a perpetual smile on his face and embraced life with gusto. Skip and I felt fortunate to have shared numerous dinners with bob and Joye. Perhaps Bob was a "homer" announcer, but is there really anything wrong with cheering on an organization that you care for and rooting for the players on your team?
Personally I prefer announcers who connect with the players and their fans and are emotionally engaged in the outcome of the game. Bob's compassion and enthusiasm will be remembered forever.
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DyHrdMET 55p · 712 weeks ago

There is absolutely nothing wrong with an announcer becoming a fan of the team which he covers, cherring for the team and for the players, and letting all of that come through in the broadcasts. Bob Murphy wasn't the only one. I think it made him better and more endearing to the fans. I loved when he could put the joy and the word picture together.
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alex claydon · 712 weeks ago

I had the joy of meeting Bob Murphy at a gas station just down the road from the stadium in Port St. Lucie in 1996 or 97 when was a boy. He had a Snickers bar in one hand and a Coke in the other hand, and when I said hello to him in the parking lot and asked for an autograph, he said " i don't seem to have a hand here", so I offered to hold his candy bar for him. He signed my ball, which I had caught at the game earlier in the day, and for me, made a memory that will last a lifetime. Thanks Bob.
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Dan R's avatar

Dan R · 712 weeks ago

The Mets have a nice tribute page to Bob Murphy on their website.
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/mlb/news/tributes/obi...
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DyHrdMET 55p · 712 weeks ago

thank you all for your stories and memories
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MitchS11 · 712 weeks ago

I've been a Met fan since 1962. I don't like to swim against the tide, but...

Murph was all of the things that have been said about him here -enthusiatic, upbeat, a homer - except for one thing. His color commentary was awful. He would often say things like "Timmy Teufel is the kind of hitter who hits better the more at-bats he gets." D'uh. Unfortuntaely, Wayne Hagen comes from the same Broadcasting School of the Obvious, as was his predecessor Tom McCarthy (who does the hiring for radio, anyway? Howie Rose must have nightmares about his broadcasting partners since Gary Cohen got bumped upstairs to SNY).

Also, Ralph Kiner is by far the most knowledgeable of the original Big Three, but no one knew it until he started working with Tim McCarver, whose insights and analysis came as a revelation to those of us who grew up listening to Kiner teamed with Nelson and Murph.
1 reply · active 712 weeks ago
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DyHrdMET 55p · 712 weeks ago

Broadcasting in baseball is such a unique animal. A team can have 2 ex-players working together on TV (with one calling play-by-play, or taking turns) and 2 professional play-by-play announcers working together on radio. They can even have an ex-player working with a broadcasting pro and still taking turns (where the ex-player calls play-by-play and the pro broadcaster is the analyst). That being said, the professional play-by-play guys aren't necessarily there to serve as analyst, and having 2 analysts together can really bring out good insights from both of them once the conversation begins. Outside of baseball, there might be a dozen cases where an ex-player goes into play-by-play or a professional broadcaster plays analyst. I'd give Bob Murphy a pass.

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