A Strike on Eddie Murray

Eddie Murray was always one of my favorite players. He was the epitome of a steady professional who applied his craft with great modesty. One of my favorite Murray characteristics was how he would respond to the home-plate umpire when he didn’t like a pitch that was called a strike against him. Murray would slowly step out of the batter’s box after the pitch and walk about ten feet and then stop. For the next minute or so (which is a long time in-between pitches) Murray would look to the sky, then practice his swing, then look to the sky, then knock some dirt out of his spikes that wasn’t there. Everyone in the ballpark that was paying attention knew exactly what Murray was doing – he was letting the umpire know he didn’t like the call. Most other batters in that situation would stomp out of the batter’s box after the umpire’s call, glare at the umpire and maybe provide the umpire with a bit of verbal invective. Murray was one of those rare players who would keep their cool and still manage to let the world know that the umpire had blown the call.