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Dale Murray was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the New York Mets in exchange for Ken Henderson on May 19, 1978. A ground ball pitcher that used a fastball and a diving forkball from the Mets bullpen during his two seasons in New York. Dale was unable to repeat the success he had seen in Montreal. He was a 15 game winner as a relief pitcher in 1975 for the Expos. With the Mets he allowed 190 hits in 183.1 innings pitched, and logged a 12-13 record. Murray's contract was sold to the Montreal Expos by the Mets on August 30, 1979.Dale Murray's card in the set was created from an autographed index card that I received in a trade with my good friend Bob T. on December 12, 2006.
Wow! Dale Murray is one tough signature to get.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Yankees fan, I vaguely recall his stint with the Bombers and in the early/mid 1980's and being filled with dread whenever he entered a game.
But my lasting memory (& only distinct memory) of his Yankee career is a good one. I recall in 1984 listen to the Yankees broadcast on my AM radio. It was 2:30 AM in NY and the Yanks were playing the A's out on the left coast. Laying in bed, I can recall the aforementioned dread, when Mr. Murray was pitching in bottom of the 12th inning called on to hold a one run lead with a A's runner on second base. As I chalked up the Yanks loss in my mind, I was shocked to hear that he teamed up with another former Met, SS Tim Foli, to pick the runner off of 2nd base! Holy Cow! Game over! Yankees win!
This inspired me to look for the box scores of the above mentioned game and low & behold my mind had combined two games for one "distinct" memory. The first game was a Sunday after noon game in April '84 vs Texas. The Yanks won the game which was ended by the Murray to Foli pick-off move.
ReplyDeleteThe second game was an August '84 vs the A's in Oakland. The Yanks lost when Murray gave up the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.
Thanks for prompting me to recall these 25 year old memories. Keep up the good work!
BTW: Lee, who are you rooting for in the WS?
Thanks for the great addition to the Dale Murray story.
ReplyDeletePS: I am rooting for the Yankees to win the 2009 World Series. My son is a big time Yanks fan and I would root for anyone but the Phillies!