More than any other sport, baseball is a game known for numbers. Whether it is Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak, a 20 win season, or a .400 batting average, history looks at players based on their statistics. I never saw Pete Rose play, but I know he is the all-time hits leader (with 4,256 of them). I never saw Cy Young pitch, but I know he is the career wins leader (511).
Since I look for anything to do that involves sports whenever I have free time, I was playing a game on sporcle.com (which is actually a really great site where you can quiz yourself on anything from sports to science or geography) and I took a quiz to try to name every member of the 500 home run club. Members of this club can officially be considered some of the best power hitters in the game. After that, I tried the quiz to name every member of the 3,000 hit club, which is the other prestigious club that only the best hitters are a part of. When I finished, I was surprised to see some of the names that were missing.
Guys like Babe Ruth, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams are considered some of the best to ever play the game, but none of them had 3,000 hits. So I looked into which players were members of both the 500 home run club and the 3,000 hit club, and found that there were only four players that are members of both clubs. One of them is the man that many people consider the greatest all-around player in the history of the game, Willie Mays. The second is one of the best hitters ever, Hank Aaron (who was definitely helped by the fact that he played for seemingly 350 years). The third was Rafael Palmeiro. I saw Palmeiro play, and he was a great player, but I was a bit surprised to see him mentioned in this category. The fourth player, however, I would have never guessed if you gave me all the time in the world to try. It was Eddie Murray.
I remember the end of Murray's career, but for the most part, I didn't get to see him play much. I knew of him as "pretty good," but I never realized just how great he actually was. A look at Eddie Murray's career is like looking at a player that has done just about everything as a major league baseball player. Murray finished his career with 3,255 hits and 504 home runs. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1977, made eight All-Star teams, won three Gold Glove Awards at first base, and won a World Series in 1983 with the Baltimore Orioles. His 1,917 career RBI are the most all-time among switch hitters, and he hit a home run from both the left side of the plate and the right side of the plate 11 times (which was a record when he retired, but has since been surpassed by Mark Teixeira). One of the few things he never did was win an MVP award, and I think this just helps to underscore the fact that he is so underrated.
His nickname was "Steady Eddie" and I think that is the perfect description of him. Murray was never in trouble off the field, and he was never out in public looking for the spotlight like Pete Rose or Babe Ruth. Following his retirement in 1997, Murray made a donation to the Baltimore City Parks & Recreation Department that allowed for the creation of the Carrie Murray Nature Center (named after Eddie's mother). During his Hall of Fame induction speech, he even remembered to thank his little league coach and made sure to acknowledge the hundreds of Baltimore area little leaguers that had come to watch his induction ceremony. Of course, he also remembered to give the kids personally autographed baseball bats, balls, and Hall of Fame programs. He also served as a hitting coach for the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers after he retired. His #33 jersey was retired by the Orioles in 1998.
There are many athletes that are talented at what they do, but there are sadly a lot that also do not handle the spotlight well. Guys who go about their business in a professional manner are the ones that should really be appreciated. However, because these guys don't seek the spotlight, they are overlooked far too much. With some deeper digging though, we can find athletes in the latter category, and some of them, like Eddie Murray, may be some of the best athletes to ever play the game.
Daily Rangers Update: The second period is coming to a close in Game 2, and the Capitals are winning 2-1. They have been much better than Game 1, and the Rangers need to get more going on the offensive end of the ice. There is still plenty of time left to get 2 goals though and win this game. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Patrick Corbin was impressive today making his major league debut, pitching into the 6th inning and getting the win. He even dropped down two great bunts, one of which he turned into an error that put him on base. The offense came from all around, and Justin Upton hit his second home run of the year in a 9-5 win. Next it's off to the nation's capital for three games with the Nationals, who have been great during the first month of the year. Trevor Cahill and Jordan Zimmerman will be on the mound tomorrow.
Daily Giants Update: It seems more and more like Osi Umenyiora will not be back. He came out today and publicly said that he was not satisfied with his contract, although he has done that every offseason for the past few years and has not gone anywhere, so we will have to wait and see what happens.
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