Passing of the torch - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Murphy3 · 02-25-2002, 10:31 PM

The year was 1981. I was 4 years old. This was the year that I met my first love. As a four year old, I fell head over heals with baseball. By the middle of 1982, I had fallen head over heels for the Atlanta Braves (this was back when the only teams you could catch on TV on a regular basis was the Braves and the Cubs).

Well, if I ever had a man crush on anyone, it would have to be Dale Murphy. I watched virtually every game possible for the next 7 years that the Braves and Murph played in. He was my idol, my role model, my hero, and my babysitter. All you had to do to shut me up and get me to calm down was to sit me in front of the TV with the Braves playing. Or even better, you could give me some baseball cards and let me crunch some numbers to figure out how Dale Murphy was the best player in MLB. You cannot imagine how many times I heard from my older sister "Are we gonna have to watch this sh*t again?). This was back when most houses were only blessed with one television set (and often, no remotes).

I watched faithfully year after year. I watched Murph gracefully move across the outfield to catch a line drive in the gap. I watched The Murph extend his consecutive games played streak in spite of a badly cut hand requring several stitches (he extended it with a pinch hit homerun). I watched Murph gracefully build his stats on his way to another MVP, All-Star game, or Gold Glove Award. He was simply one of the 3-4 best players in the decade of the 80's. Even more important, he was probably the best man in the decade of the 80's in any sport. A real class act.

Well, when Murph was traded from the Braves in favor of the wife beater David Justice, you cannot imagine how upset I was. In the 90's, you can't imagine the pain I felt when Murph finally called it quits and retired from the Colorado Rockies. Murph retired with 398 homeruns (most in Atlanta Braves history), 2 MVP's, several all-star games, and 5-6 Gold Glove awards.

He hasn't made it into the Hall of Fame and might never make it in spite of being the youngest player in National League history to win back to back MVP's. Why won't he win an MVP you might ask? Well, he was a shy guy that didn't have much to say to the media. He was boring, bland, vanilla. He was too good of a guy, you might say.

As the years passed, Dale Murphy remained my most favorite sports figure of all time. For years, I wouldn't even consider changing my loyalty. Several people tempted me with the pleasures they brought into my life. A tight spiral from a redneck Oklahoma boy....mammoth homeruns from a guy that could speak little English and understood wedding vows even less...jumpshot after jumpshot from an up and coming star that would soon injure his ankle and never return to his true form (a day in which I will remember the rest of my life)...a blazing fastball of 83 mph from a multi - Cy Young winner that looked like he belonged in the library. Yet none of these people were able to bear the weight that I put on the Murph's shoulders.

None of these people could supplant The Murph as my all-time favorite player of all time. Even as a retired player, when someone would ask "Who's your favorite sports star". I would say "Dale Murphy". More often than not, I would hear "Who's that?"

Then, in a time not too far past, I fell in love again. For the first time in my life, I fell in love with the NBA. Until 4 years ago, I could honestly say that basketball was probably my 4th favorite sport (behind baseball, football, and tennis). Is it possible that in just 20 years a sport could rival my love for the great game of baseball? Well, I wouldn't go that far...yet.

I fell in love with a jumpshot and a work ethic of a young German who's name I couldn't even pronounce correctly for a year. Unfortunately, he played at the same level as the rest of his team that first year (which wasn't saying much). In just 4 years, he has brought his game from one of the worst players in the NBA to one of the top 5-8 players in the game. More importantly, he has brought his game to a level far more important than that. As of February 26th, 2002, the young German now rivals the great Murph as my favorite player of all time. I live and die with each jumpshot and each drive to the hole. The Mavs are arguably the most important thing in my life. They are a significant part of my entertainment and a significant part of the heartache in my life.

In October of 2001, my fiance was upset at something. Oh yeah, now I remember. She was upset with how much time I spent watching and talking about the Mavs and Dirk Nowitzki. She asked me who was more important to her "her or Dirk and the Dallas Mavericks". Well, I told her the truth and I have been a bachelor ever sense.

I never thought that I would find a person in which I could get so much joy from watching. Surely no one could rival the Murph. No one could rival his grace. I was wrong. Just look at the 7 footer put up a three or watch him glide to the basket. To be honest, I never thought I would ever feel the same about professional sports again. Thank you, Dirk, for proving me wrong.

And thank you Dirk and the Mavs for the joy you have given me, the joy you are giving me, and the NBA championships that are to come.

Will Dirk ever reach the Hall of Fame? He has the talent. He has the heart. He has the work ethic. He will have the stats. It will be a sad day if he fails to make it for being too good of a guy. It happens. It's already happened to one of the greatest.

TheKid · 02-27-2002, 12:22 PM

Well Murph this explains everything, but it's a cool story nonetheless.

turbo.mav · 02-27-2002, 03:57 PM

it does explain everything, and i can relate to it a little..

awesome insight into that which is the murph

Epitome22 · 03-01-2002, 08:06 AM

I'm a big baseball guy too (at least I used to be) Dale Murphy was a hell of a player, such a complete player. I thought it sucked when he retired from the Rockies before he got to 400 home runs but afterwards I respected him for being able to walk away then play a few more years as a shadow of his former self.

Let's hope Dirk stays a mav for a long time and continues getting better.

Bayliss · 03-09-2002, 08:35 PM

<< A tight spiral from a redneck Oklahoma boy....mammoth homeruns from a guy that could speak little English and understood wedding vows even less...jumpshot after jumpshot from an up and coming star that would soon injure his ankle and never return to his true form (a day in which I will remember the rest of my life)...a blazing fastball of 83 mph from a multi - Cy Young winner that looked like he belonged in the library. >>

The librarian has got to be Greg Maddux... the homerun hitter is perhaps Juan-Gone? But you got to tell me who the other two are.....

MFFL · 03-09-2002, 08:51 PM

The redneck from Oklahoma has to be Aikman. The other basketball player would probably be Grant Hill.

Murphy3 · 03-09-2002, 10:09 PM

jim jackson...jackson was one of the best 2 guards in the league until he injured his ankle..never returned to the same form

nekked · 04-01-2002, 02:04 PM

enjoyed your story very much...

had a similar experience as a 10 year old growing up in memphis and going to AA games and watching a speedy little 2b named timmy raines. i caught a line drive foul ball in the shoulder off his bat. before he got back in the box, after he saw that i was okay, he gave me a thumbs up. that was it - he was the man. hard to watch many expos games growing up in memphis, but checked out every box score and saw every allstar game. its been great watching his career, but, unfortunately, unlike murph, he's hung around too long and hurt his chance at what i think would have been a hof career - hard to believe that i'm 34 now and he's still trying to hang on.

again, good story.

Murphy3 · 04-01-2002, 07:11 PM

well, with murph's knee problems..he really couldn't hang on in the NL anymore.. and he didn't want to play in the AL..although his offensive game probably would have picked up a bit if he could have spent some time as a DH with rested knees.

i also enjoyed watching Tim "Rock" Raines. The Murph and The Rock spent alot of times in the outfield together on the N.L. All-Star team

grbh · 04-02-2002, 03:27 AM

I was a fan of both throughout their careers. Does anyone know if Raines caught on with a team this year? I is true Nekked that Raines is trying to hang on, but he did in limited at bats hit about .300 last year. Those type of players can hang on a while. I just hate to see guys hitting .220 fighting to stay in the league who I am accustomed to hitting around .300

nekked · 04-02-2002, 08:51 AM

i believe timmy is trying to catch on with the marlins.

i think rock can still be an effective fourth of for someone cause his ba has stayed up, he's defense is still good, and if his hammys aren't bothering him, he can still steal a base. i think if he'd retired after his stint with the whitesox he'd have gotten considerable consideration for the hof. now alot of people see him as a hanger on. it didn't hurt winfield. hopefully people will see that he was the second best leadoff hitter of his time, a very underrated defensive outfielder, and the best basestealer (if you look at %%%) of all time.

Dirk77 · 09-05-2002, 05:17 PM

I have alway's loved baseball and basketball beyond words. I was such a huge Jim Abbott fan and still am a Huge Frank Thomas fan. Being the huge Sox fan and Thomas fan I am, I have gotten the opportunity to meet the rock raines! I travel to chicago often, use to be more pleaseure then business, I have a friend who is affiliated w/ the sox. He got me into the dugout in the 93 year, it was so awesome. I met my hero frank, ventura, Alvarez, Bere, Fernandez, awesome! My favorite NBA team has alway's been the mavs, but I use to have a different fav. player, the man, 3-D Dennis Scott. Followed him from GA Tech to the end. He was ungodly in NCAA, set points, 3 pointer and ppg avg. records in the Acc, most are probably broke now. He was a machine in Orlando, set the STILL STANDING NBA record of 267, that's right, 267 3's in a season, and 11, yea, 11 3's in a game against Atlanta! After he went to dallas, phoenix, Vancouver, NY, Minnesota, Lakers (briefly), Wash (briefly). Now I have had a new fav. nba player, the Diggler. Fell in love with his game when i saw him play for the X-Ray's and I've enshrined him ever since!