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In a wide-ranging discussion, Dale Murphy, the beloved Atlanta Braves star, focuses on his eight children and twelve grandchildren, his popular Atlanta restaurant, and his father’s journey with prostate cancer.
Program Notes
- Dale Murphy’s website: dalemurphy.com
- Dale Murphy on Twitter: @dalemurphy3
- Dale Murphy on Facebook: facebook.com/DaleBMurphy
The Stay in the Game podcast is sponsored by Cancer Health – online at cancerhealth.com.
Cancer Health empowers people living with prostate cancer and other cancers to actively manage and advocate for their care and improve their overall health. Launched in 2017, cancerhealth.com provides accessible information about treatment and quality of life for people with cancer and their loved ones, along with information about cancer prevention and health policy.
Episode Transcript
Announcer: Welcome to Stay in the Game, conversations about prostate cancer with Ed Randall. Here we’ll chat with doctors, researchers, medical professionals, survivors, and others to share and connect. This show was produced and shared by Fans For the Cure, a nonprofit dedicated to serving men on their journeys through prostate cancer.
The Stay in the Game podcast is sponsored by Cancer Health — online at cancerhealth.com. Cancer Health empowers people living with prostate cancer and other cancers to actively manage and advocate for their care and improve their overall health. Launched in 2017, cancerhealth.com provides accessible information about treatment and quality of life for people with cancer and their loved ones, along with information about cancer prevention and health policy.
Ed Randall: Hi everybody, I Ed Randall, the founder and chief advocacy officer for Fans for the Cure. Welcome back to our Stay in the Game podcast. Our guests hit 398 lifetime home runs. He’s a two-time National League Most Valuable Player, seven-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove outfielder. And he didn’t miss a game during the period 1982 to 1985. And he missed out on three years in a row of 36 home runs because in 1985, he hit 37.
If you’re a Little Leaguer in Georgia during the 1980s, most of the fighting and crying was over who got to wear one uniform number. And that was number three because it was worn by the great Dale Murphy.
Dale, we’re so honored to have you join us, and welcome to our Stay in the Game podcast.
Dale Murphy: Oh, thank you, Ed. It’s always fun to be with you. Thank you so much.
Ed Randall: How are you feeling and where are you talking to us from?
Dale Murphy: Feeling good. I am about 30 minutes south of Salt Lake City in Utah. This is where we are most of the time. We’re in Atlanta a lot. We now have a son and his family in the Atlanta area. So, you know, I get there a lot. I got a restaurant there. I think we’ve talked about it, Ed, a few times. But our restaurant survived COVID, so I get there a lot for that. And I have appearances and speaking things in Atlanta. So I’m on that Salt Lake City to Atlanta flight quite a bit. But right now I’m in Utah.
Ed Randall: I’m glad you brought up the restaurant. There’s so much to talk about with you. So let’s start you off with a curveball. What shall I order when I stop by at Murph’s after a Braves game this summer?
Dale Murphy: Well, order my wife Nancy’s favorite burger, the bourbon bacon burger. Bourbon bacon burger. And we have great fries. But we got two things that I absolutely love, things you don’t get too often at a restaurant. We got some amazing potato salad. One thing I contributed to the menu, I said, “We gotta have some fried okra.” So you know, we got a little southern taste. We actually got a good combination things. One of my partners is from Wisconsin, so we have fried cheese curds.
Ed Randall: Whoa, okay.
Dale Murphy: Yeah. So it’s been fun. I have a great manager who’s kept us afloat last couple years. So we’re still open.
Ed Randall: How great is that in this crazy time! So let’s talk baseball with a great Dale Murphy. The Braves choose you as the fifth overall pick of the 1974 draft at Woodrow Wilson High School in Portland, Oregon. Yet at some critical point, you still hadn’t signed a contract, you get a phone call from the team owner, Ted Turner. Walk us through that conversation.
Dale Murphy: Well, I gotta ask you which period of my career you’re talking about.
Ed Randall: At the beginning. After they drafted you, we had information that you hadn’t signed a professional contract yet and you got a phone call from Ted. Is that true?
Dale Murphy: Well, actually, I signed when I got drafted. But I think what information… the story that you’re referring to is a couple years after I signed. I am a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church. It’s funny you bring this up, Ed, because I don’t get asked about it a lot. I joined the church and we have a missionary program. As a lot of people know, we have missionaries all over the world. And I was considering putting my career on hold for two years and going on, you know, in serving a mission for the church.
Well, I got back to Ted Turner, who I didn’t meet when I first signed, but yeah, I got a phone call from Ted and he wasn’t happy. And he said, “Okay, Murphy, I’ll tell you what, I’m going to join the Mormon church and you can baptize me, you can baptize me and my whole family and just stay here and play ball. Will that worked?” Oh, man, obviously, I decided to keep playing ball.
But it was just a moment, you know, in my career, early in my minor league career that… I actually don’t talk about a lot. People don’t ask me about a lot. I never got to the point… I mean, I was considering it but, you know… Anyway, that is the story. I decided to keep playing ball. I don’t know how close and how serious I got. It was on my mind.
Ed Randall: You never did baptize Ted Turner?
Dale Murphy: No. No. We didn’t follow through on that one.
Ed Randall: No. So to your career, before Bobby Cox put you in the outfield where you would win five Gold Gloves, you broke into the big leagues as a catcher and a first baseman positions where you were not a candidate for Gold Glove. How did the decision to move to the outfield come about?
Dale Murphy: You know, without going into great detail, the best way to say it, I basically got the gifts behind the plate, which, you know, it’s not uncommon in the game of baseball or other sports where guys have a little hiccup in something they’ve done a long time. That’s in golf, basketball, just, you know, all activities where I just… it got better and better. You know, I got about 100… maybe not 100… 80 or so games caught in the big leagues. Even that might be high. But I got better. But I never got to the point to where I’m gonna be an everyday catcher.
So Bobby moved me to first base. Bobby Cox. And same thing there. I mean, I was okay but first base is not an easy position to go play if you’ve never played it. I actually didn’t do that well there. And I started hitting the ball. I started hitting some home runs and Bobby gave me a call after the season in ’79—Nancy, and I just got married—gave me a call and said, “Murphy, we’ve been talking to and what do you think about the outfield?” And I was like, “Yeah, I’ll go for it. It wasn’t where I was, you know, like, “Hey, I’d like to stay at first base, Bobby.” You know, it was like, “Yeah, sounds great.” I just went to spring training of 1980, and just went for it. That made my first All-Star team that year and my career changed forever because Bobby got me to the outfield.
So that’s really the story. I think I went for left first and then ended up in center. I ended up playing right and left and center, probably mostly center, at the end of my career I played right. But yeah, he saved my career. What can I say? I started hitting some home runs. They were trying to keep my bat in the line and… I knew why I was out there, I just wasn’t good enough those other positions. Let’s admit it. And it obviously worked out.
Ed Randall: My goodness, did it ever? We have a story that you once missed significant time on the field in ’79 because you hurt yourself trying to catch a Phil Niekro knuckleball. Is that true? What really happened?
Dale Murphy: No, it is. You know, being relatively tall for a catcher, I mean, maybe that’s what created it. But I was catching [inaudible 00:08:51] and he threw a knuckleball and it just went way outside, and I shifted in… I shifted out to catch it, keeping firm, and maybe guys were in scoring position. I don’t really remember. But in a crouch, as you shift, your knee goes in a pretty… can go in a pretty awkward position. And I didn’t hear a snap. I heard something go on my knee and I tore a cartilage on that pitch. I could tell. But what’s weird is, I mean, it didn’t swell up till later that night.
But Ed, my April in 1979, that was my second, gonna be my second full year. Probably the best start I’ve ever gotten off to my whole career. I mean, I can’t remember my numbers, but man, I was really excited. But then, yeah, I missed… Back then cartilage, knee surgeries weren’t like today, go pretty quick, you know. So I missed quite a bit of time. I guess I can’t remember. Came back after the surgery and just carried on at first base and little catching. And then 80, that’s when I moved to the outfield. They probably saw, you know, even if he does stay a catcher, he must gonna get hurt a lot. It’s not gonna be good for him. Let’s get him in the outfield. Maybe that was part of the decision too.
Ed Randall: There’s a heartwarming story that I want you to tell that you’ve told me in the past about you and Johnny Bench. The dates back to your getting an award in high school when you were still in Oregon, and also extends to when you were making your Major League debut. And it’s a wonderful story.
Dale Murphy: Well, I was catching in high school. And if you’re catching in the mid to late 70s, you’re catching, your favorite player is probably gonna be Johnny Bench. And as you mentioned earlier, I was drafted as a catcher, so I was all about catching. And I go there and I get award for high school baseball and ends up Johnny Bench is the guest speaker way out in Portland, Oregon. I went up to him and met him. Back then he had no idea about the draft or who’s watching. Not a lot of information. I just told him I was a catcher and he goes, “Hey, great to meet you. Good luck to you. Hope you get drafted.”
And then it was a couple years later. I get called up in September of 1976. I mean, it was just weird, Ed, playing against the big red machine. And I’m digging in there, you know, facing Don Gullett, and Johnny’s behind the plate, you know. And he just says, “Hey, kid.” He goes, “Good luck to you.” And then throughout my career he was always very gracious and encouraging to me.
He did a video message when I had a day at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, either retired my number or I can’t remember which they had a day for me in Atlanta. And Johnny came on and said some great things. So I’ve always appreciated. I saw Johnny last winter and he’s just great. He’s always been great to me and really appreciated that friendship. Just loved him.
Ed Randall: Nobody played more games than you did during the 80s, and only Mike Schmidt hit more home runs than you did during that decade. What was it like, not only being one of the game’s best players, but also one who got to ride along with Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren and the nationwide explosion of cable TV in the Superstation. Everybody was following the Braves.
Dale Murphy: Oh, I still feel the effects of it every day or everywhere I go. Just was speaking… I’m out here in Utah, met somebody from Elko, Nevada the other day to go through our lineup. In the 80s. Ed, it was a lot of fun, I have to say. Looking back on it, we had a couple good years. But Ed, I think Ted Turner and the trio of our announcers, Ernie Johnson, Skip Caray, and Pete Van Wieren, they should be in the Hall of Fame for spreading the game of baseball throughout this country in the world, if you had a dish.
I still talk to people, Ed, that know our lineup. Ed, we did not go to the World Series, in case you’re wondering, back in the 80s, in case you didn’t remember. But I have people that’ll go through that lineup. Like Yankee fans will go through the lineup and the great Yankee teams. And those guys at TBS, there’s a phrase now that I use all the time, and it’s on Twitter all the time, #TBSKid. Kids grew up with TBS and they grew up Braves fans.
Ed, a fun thing to do is watch the video, you can see it anywhere, of Jorge Soler’s home run in the World Series in game six. Couple things happened. A lot of Astro fans didn’t want to go to game six, were saving their tickets. If they won, they wanted to go to game seven. So a lot of tickets became available. I don’t know if I watched the video of Jorge Soler’s Home Run and listened very closely. The Astro fans, mostly in the lower part of the stadium are standing up trying to get a… there’s a couple guys on base waving their towels and cheering and they want to strike it out.
Well, he hits a ball out of sight, as everybody will remember, and the Astro, all of a sudden there’s a lowering of the volume and then a raising of the volume. People are cheering. And people on Twitter and social media are saying, “Well, wait, what? Who’s cheering?” Those are a bunch of TBS kids that traveled to Houston and gobbled up those tickets that were available.
So there’s this brave country thing that the Braves talk about now was really Ted’s brainchild. He said, we’re gonna… you know, remember, Ed, he came up with 24-hour news and everybody’s like, “No one’s gonna want to watch news for 24 hours.” He started CNN, he put us on all the time, and all of a sudden it… I grew up Braves fans, but people are fans of the game of baseball because of those guys.
They brought you a hometown broadcast, not a national broadcast where the announcers don’t know us. They traveled with us, as you said. We traveled with those three announcers. They’d have little anecdotes about me eating too many donuts on the bus ride or something like that and you know, making fun of me. You know, if I dropped a ball, they’d say, “Well, Murph wouldn’t have dropped it if it was an Apple,” or something like that. They endeared us. I’m sorry this is such a long answer, but I think it was such an important part of my post-career, Ed.
I have speaking engagements now because people are like, “Hey, will you come speak to us? By the way, I’m a huge Brave fan.” And it’ll be in, literally, Fargo, North Dakota. It’s amazing. So it was a lot of fun. I think Ted and our announcers should be recognized for what they did for the game of baseball.
Ed Randall: Those many Braves fans, north of age 40, still recall August 3rd, 1990, the day you were traded to the Philadelphia as a gut punch that they didn’t see coming. But it was not as much of a surprise to you, was it?
Dale Murphy: Yeah. Thanks, Ed. I appreciate the chance to always kind of clarify this. Because the people didn’t want to take the time to look into it. I think I talked about it at the time, but I do mean there’s a detail there. Bottom line is I had struggled for a couple years. I had seen what happened to Phil Niekro. You know, who stays with the club the whole career, especially as you get a little older and things aren’t going as well, the club is kind of stuck, you know, what are we gonna do?
Guys that stay with the club are always productive. Like Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones. I felt it was time for me to move on in ’90. I went into Bobby Cox’s office and said, “You know, next year, ’91, I’m gonna be a free agent. Bobby, I just gotta go. I just feel I need… you know, I’m not doing that well, club’s struggling, and I need the old change of scenery.” And I said, “If there’s a trade, I’ll look at it,” since I had the power to approve or accept or not accept a trade.
So the key thing is the Phillies came up and said, “We’re interested in Murph, we’ll give him an extension. So Nancy and I are looking at it at Philly, that’d be different. They got a pretty good nucleus and they’re extending me. That was the key thing, Ed, because I was looking at being 34 with two years that weren’t so good going out on the free agent market. And the Phillies came up, said, “We’re gonna extend you, Murph, for two years.” I was like, “Whoa, I’m gonna do that.” So that’s how I got to Philly.
I was kind of right about that nucleus. I mean, ’93, they went to the World Series and I was there for half of ’90, ’91. ’92 I was hurt most of the season and I wasn’t there in ’93. And it was. It was different. I needed some energy. You know, Atlanta’s a great place to play, but it’s got a little bit of a southern California laid-back crowd base. They do get loud when the team’s good. But I needed a little bit more energy probably, and Philly provided that. I had a great time there in the organization. I didn’t play that well and I started getting hurt. That’s how I ended up in Philly, Ed.
Ed Randall: You eventually retired after a brilliant 18-year career at age 37 to become a year-round, live-at-home dad and husband. How did that adjustment go?
Dale Murphy: Not as easy as I thought it would. Yeah, it’s just not. Anytime… Oh, man. I talked to the father-in-law of a kid that had played eight years in the minors, you know, got called up a couple times, but he’s done playing now. And he said, “Hey, he’s having a tough time.” And I go, “I was lucky enough to have a career in the major leagues and I had a tough time when I retired.” Anytime you’re done with something you really like and you’re really successful at, and what you find out is more of your identity is attached to that than you think, and all of a sudden it’s over, it’s hard to make that adjustment. I’d have to say it just wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Man, I miss the game. I miss those days every day. It’s weird when you take that uniform off.
Ed Randall: In your speaking engagements, you often share stories of the unconditional support, Dale, that you received throughout your life from your dad, Charles. Did you feel your respective roles reversed temporarily when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer?
Dale Murphy: Yes. Well, I don’t how else to say except you’re absolutely right. I mean, it’s kind of a shock to the system when you hear the word cancer. You know, I don’t even know what’s going on, prostate cancer. I don’t what’s going on. But he handled it, he and my mom… he did great through the whole process. This was about, I don’t know exactly. It was probably 15 years ago, but he did pass. He was 90 when he passed four years ago. So he was in his early 70s. It could have been late 60s. I’m 65 now, so, you know, dad’s doing great. And he did great. Got it early and all those kind of things.
Ed Randall: At the time of your dad’s diagnosis, what did you or he know about prostate cancer, and was the PSA test included in your annual physical at that point?
Dale Murphy: Oh, no. No. Well, I didn’t know anything. I can’t remember what my dad knew. Obviously it was a quick education. But no, I was not getting tested. It was not a part of my yearly physical thing. But I learned really quick how critical it is, how critical it is to just our general health, our diet, lifestyle. I mean, I like to eat things that are probably not the best for my health and I have to watch that stuff.
I had someone just tell me the other day, and I can’t remember who it was, I think it was someone who had, had got through prostate cancer. I don’t know. You know more about it than me. But he said, “Red meat,” he said, “Murph, you gotta be careful.” He said, “Red meat is something you want to watch your consumption of and make sure you’re getting tested and you’re paying attention to that. Especially because of your dad’s situation, something you need to watch.”
Ed Randall: Any others in your life that have been touched by prostate cancer?
Dale Murphy: My brother-in-law. Now getting too personal, I’ll say he’s had a challenge in his recovery and a very close teammate of mine from high school, my exact age. Well, both of those guys are my exact age. My teammate from high school just went through it last year, doing well. My brother-in-law has had a challenge, I’ll put it that way.
Ed Randall: We wish him well, of course.
Dale Murphy: Thank you.
Ed Randall: You’ve had hundreds of forward teammates as well as seven sons of your own. And I don’t need to tell you that unlike women, men will do just about anything to avoid going to the doctor. And during COVID, our doctors are telling us that millions of cancer screenings have been postponed, skipped, deferred, or whatever term you want to use for “didn’t show up”. Dale, how do we get the men we care for to go to the doctor?
Dale Murphy: Oh, man. You know, being a guy, I can relate to that. I don’t know. It’s kind of interesting what we do as guys is we think we look tough and manly doing certain things or not doing certain things where it’s actually the opposite. Our brains just get a little mixed up, don’t they? Where, oh, you know, I’m tough, you know, whatever. That’s not being tough. That’s kind being stupid.
I would challenge men, I’d say, man up. Do this thing that is easy, first of all, that shows a certain awareness, self-awareness. Just be… the word is vulnerable now. It’s more manly to be vulnerable and to be honest and to not put on this facade of toughness to avoid doing smart things. You know what I mean? It’s just something that inherently we… our brains are mixed up. Not all of us, but mine is.
But I mean, just generally, I think, we have to get over this male thing that which we think is actually a cool male thing. It’s not very smart and it’s not very cool. So I would just challenge them to say, you are at your best as a man when you’re vulnerable and you’re open and you’re honest and you take care of those things you should do.
Ed Randall: Well said. We run a support group for spouses and partners who are caregivers. All too often they’re the unsung heroes of a man’s physical and mental recovery for prostate cancer. Please tell us, Dale, about your mom Betty’s role throughout all phases of that shared journey with your dad.
Dale Murphy: Well, always there. I think, like you said earlier, there comes a time when you really find out… You know, you say you love each other and then going through some challenges and the stress, the caregiving, and necessity of being up emotionally, you know, just the whole psychological challenge that the partner of someone going through this. My mom passed those tests with flying colors.
I think the older we get, you know, we face a lot of challenges. That’s when it’s great to have someone at your side. My mom and dad were a great couple and strong and courageous. Being there for each other is a phrase that when the reality hits, again, it’s time to really test your courage, your faith. And you can do it. You can do it because we’ve had good examples. And that’s what my mom and dad had shown me, that this can be done courageously and faithfully. And you gotta be there. You gotta be there, and you can do it.
Ed Randall: Continuing on the themes of caregiving and teamwork, tell us, if you can, about your third son, Travis, his challenges and the lessons he has taught you and Nancy about being parents.
Dale Murphy: Oh, thank you. Travis, our third son, has something similar… It’s a syndrome. It’s not Down syndrome. It’s a really rare syndrome. It’s called Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome. Dr. Rubinstein and Dr. Taybi were the first ones to diagnose this set of characteristics. But he does have some characteristics like downs. But yeah, Travis has been great.
One of the challenges that is typical of kids with this kind of syndrome, they don’t… they stop talking, conversing. The word is they don’t like the sound of their voice, so they become less talkative. But what’s been great is he can text. He can text and he can… We talk with him a lot. Even if he’s down in the basement in his room, we’ll just… Anyway, he’s hilarious. He gets right to the point on his text. I have to tell you this. I said, “Hey, come on up. Mom and I are home. Let’s watch some tv. Come out and hang out with us. We’re watching tv.” He text it back and said, “No.”
But sometimes, he’ll really surprise us. He notices everything. I mean, he loves our grandkids and he loves Disney. I guess the one thing is Nancy went through the challenges of getting him through the challenging early years. He’s kind of self-sufficient. Not really, but those early years I was playing ball, you know, and all of the challenges that he had, he had a lot of early issues I guess. He went through open heart surgery. You know, I was playing ball, Ed. He’s brought a great, great spirit into our home and always helps us keep things in perspective. Just love him so much and what he has brought to our family, to us as parents, to our kids, and to our grandchildren. He’s a miracle in a lot of ways, and we’re really thankful for him.
Ed Randall: You and Nancy had seven sons before the appearance of your eighth child and first daughter Maddie. The home office, Dale, wants me to ask if this is the same Maddie Murphy who hosts the podcast The Bad Broadcast. Is that her?
Dale Murphy: Oh my gosh. Yes. Yes. That’s her. Yeah, Maddie, she just went for it. That’s her. She’s the host of The Bad Broadcast. She got picked up by Dear Media, which is a big media company for podcasts. They told her, “We have never seen a podcast grow this fast and not have the host be a celebrity.” So Maddie’s had a lot of fun. She’ll be tickled that you asked about her. That’s her. She’s doing great. She’s having a lot of fun.
Ed Randall: You’re the father of a celebrity. Okay, time for a handful of baseball trivia questions. The subject: Dale Murphy. In 1987, you hit 44 home runs with 105 runs batted in, but you finished 11th in the MVP voting. Andre Dawson had a monster year for the Cubs, so he won it. But the player who came in second finished the season with zero home runs. Who was that player?
Dale Murphy: Is he a pitcher? Oh-
Ed Randall: No.
Dale Murphy: Tommy Herr. No, he had some home runs. Who is it?
Ed Randall: You’re very close.
Dale Murphy: Ozzie?
Ed Randall: Very good. There you go.
Dale Murphy: You’re kidding. Wow.
Ed Randall: Ozzie Smith. No home runs, finished second in the voting. Second question. In addition to hitting the second most home runs in MLB during the 1980s, you, Dale Murphy, finished second in runs, batted in for the decade behind this Hall of Famer.
Dale Murphy: Mike again? Schmidt? I don’t know.
Ed Randall: Eddie Murray.
Dale Murphy: Oh, dang, I was gonna think Eddie. I should have thought of Eddie. I didn’t think of the American League.
Ed Randall: Okay. Well, who would?
Dale Murphy: Yeah, you’re tricking me.
Ed Randall: You spent your life in the National League. Name your former teammate who hit the foul ball caught by Ferris Bueller at Wrigley Field in Ferris Bueller’s Day off.
Dale Murphy: Was it Claudell?
Ed Randall: Oh, very good. Claudell Washington. Very nice. Back on the beam. And finally, when this Braves teammate and almost Arizona State teammate hit four home runs in a 1986 loss to the Montreal Expos, it was the first time a player had hit four home runs in a loss in 90 years. Who was that?
Dale Murphy: It’s Bob Horner.
Ed Randall: Very good, very nice.
Dale Murphy: I spoke at Bob’s induction to the Georgia Hall of Fame. You know, we were destined to become teammates because I was gonna go to Arizona State.
Ed Randall: Right.
Dale Murphy: And Bryce drafted him. Uh, what a hitter! What a hitter! We lost that game, Ed, because I went over for five I think.
Ed Randall: This is not really a question, but more of a statement. So here goes. And please, Dale, feel free to interrupt. The statement: You should be in the Hall of Fame. Period. I’m nothing if not old school. So there are just three Hall of Fame qualifications from me. Seven grade seasons, check; dominated decade. Well, when you talk about baseball in the 80s, you are a separate chapter. And as we have already pointed out, you hit the second most home runs. Moreover, you won MVPs, plural, Gold Gloves, Clemente Awards, had the most total bases in all of baseball imprinted All-Star votes. Was there a five-year period when your name was in any informed discussion about the game’s best player? Definitely. This week in baseball during the 80s could have been called The Dale Murphy Show. So according to the three metrics that matter to me, you deserve to have a plaque in the Hall of Fame. And I know this is awkward, but do you care to comment on the points I just made?
Dale Murphy: Oh, thank you, Ed. I think if your name comes… I think you need to feel you belong before you should get voted into the Hall of Fame. So I think I belong. I think there’s a spot. And I’m not in the same spot with those first ballot guys or guys that get on real quick, but I think there’s a spot for me somewhere where it took guys quite a while. I think the Hall of Fame changed the voting as you know into the era committees, the era divisions. And my era comes up, you know, every two to three years. So I’m very thankful for that opportunity. We’ll see what happens.
Ed Randall: You finished with 398 home runs. I’m sure you had a few that were rained out. If they were 400. Have you ever thought about that, that you would’ve received more serious consideration with a round number?
Dale Murphy: Oh, I think that’s an interesting point. I get that question a lot. I don’t know, Ed. You know, 400 is still not 500. So I think it would’ve been a nice consideration. I think baseball is kind of even number. I think we’re all even number. Same reason why things are 599 and not 650. It’s because 595 sounds a lot less. If you’re buying something for $5 and 95 cents or let’s say $5 and 99 cents and the regular price is $6 and 10 cents, we have a tendency, and it’s true, you look at the left number, Ed.
I said this on an interview once, and people were like, “What are you talking about?” We have a natural left-number bias. That’s why the far left number is always low and you get as close as you can when you put things on sale. It’s just 398 seems a lot less than 400. But getting back, do you mind if I just… that’s marketing 101. Sorry to get off on a tangent. But to answer your question, no, I don’t think so. And unfortunately, I missed 56 games, Ed, in 81, because of a strike. We went on strike. So I had opportunities, other than that, to go well over 400.
Ed Randall: Dale, one other thing that people may not know about you, you batted right-handed and threw right-handed, but you write left-handed. How did that happen?
Dale Murphy: I wish it was the other way around. Actually, I started writing left-handed as a kid, and my mom started writing left-handed when she was a kid. But when she was a kid, it was a no no. So they stopped her. And when I was a kid, she said, “No, we’re not worried about it.” So I wish I’d have thrown left-handed and hit left-handed and wrote right-hand. Because, Ed, just think, if I was a left-handed pitcher, I’m 65 years old, I’d still be pitching.
Ed Randall: Exactly right, you would be. No question. I know. Terry Mulholland, Jamie Moyer would have nothing on you. You would be the record holder. Look, more than being one of the best and beloved baseball players of your time, you’ve earned serious consideration by many as the nicest, famous person I have ever met up there with Michael McDonald, Mariano Rivera, and when he’s in a good mood, the actor Richard Pine. What a pleasure to have you on our Stay in the Game podcast. We hope you can do it again or maybe stop by one Thursday night to talk to the guys in our men’s support group. Thank you, Dale, for your constant kindness and friendship, and we will see you at Murph’s during the season.
Dale Murphy: Absolutely. Ed, you’re the best. Always happy to come on and talk to you. Really appreciate you, your friendship, and all that you’re doing. Guys, go out there and get your PSA tested.
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