Murphy Theory : Luke Appling Believes Braves’ Slugger Is Good for 600 Trips to the Plate and 70 Homers

Never mind E.F. Hutton. They’ve got a few problems they’re working on right now. But when ol’ Luke Appling talks, especially about hitting, you’d better well listen or you’ll be sorry.

Luke was talking about Dale Murphy. That in itself isn’t much of an upset because everybody’s talking about the Atlanta Braves’ big, friendly right-handed hitting center fielder and how he’s murdering every pitcher he faces.

Murphy doesn’t only lead the National League in all the important departments--hitting, runs batted in and home runs--he leads both leagues, the whole world.

Going into Tuesday night’s game with the Mets, he was hitting .379 with 32 RBI and 10 homers, and Appling was saying that at the rate Murphy was moving, with the power he has, he could pass Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Roger Maris by hitting 70 home runs this season.

It’s not outside the realm of possibility. Not with Murphy’s inordinate ability and the way Appling figures it out. Luke says Murphy is a guy you can count on to get his 600 at-bats a season or very close to it and you can also count on him to hit at least 70 balls right on the nose. Now all they have to do is go over the fence.

When and if they do, ol’ Luke, already in the Hall of Fame, will be crowned a prophet.

What makes Appling’s observation all the more intriguing is that Murphy, quite possibly the most uncontroversial player in the big leagues, has been the subject of some controversy with regard to his home run hitting and former Braves manager Joe Torre, who’s now doing the Angels games on television.

When Torre became the Braves manager in 1982, he recognized that Murphy struck out quite a bit. Torre isn’t exactly a zilch when it comes to hitting. He won the National League batting title once with a .363 mark and had a .297 lifetime average for 18 years. He also knows something about home runs, having hit 252 of them.

By striking out, Torre reasoned, Murphy was giving himself no chance. By putting the ball in play, he was giving himself more of a chance. One of the ways he could cut down on strikeouts, Torre suggested, was not to try to pull so much, but go to the opposite field more.

Murphy did. He wound up with 36 home runs each of the past three seasons, hitting 15 homers to right field in 1982; 17 to right in 1983 and seven last season.

All of Murphy’s homers this season have gone to the left of second base and now critics are saying Torre’s strategy hurt Murphy rather than helped him, conveniently overlooking the fact Murphy was the NL’s Most Valuable Player in 1982 and 1983.

Murphy isn’t geting into the controversy. That’s typical because he’s the type who’d rather hurt himself before he’d hurt anyone else.

But nobody is happier about his present success than Torre.

“He means a lot to me,” says Torre, fired by Ted Turner the day after the end of last season. On the final day of the season, the Braves had a game with the Padres and Murphy, with 99 RBI, was looking for No. 100.

Torre, who had a feeling he was going to be fired, called him into his office before the game and said to him:

“I’m not gonna be here next year. Would you do me a favor? Get your 100th RBI today.”

“I’m trying, I’m trying,” Murphy answered. “I’m having problems about it sleeping at night.”

“Do you know why you’re having those problems?”

“No.”

“Because you’re not a selfish player and this is something you’re trying to do for yourself. Do it for me.”

“OK,” Murphy said and walked out of Torre’s office.

He drove in his 100th run with a third-inning single off Greg Booker and then called time and asked for the ball. In the Braves dugout, Torre wondered why he had done that. After the game he found out.

Murphy gave him the ball. He had inscribed it this way: “Thanks, Joe. 100th RBI, 1984. Murph.”

The ball sits on the mantle in the den of Torre’s home in Marietta, Ga. The ball is the only one in the den. It rests alongside the MVP plaque Torre was awarded in 1971 when he played third base for the Cardinals.