Braves’ Quiet Man, Dale Murphy, Still Swings a Big Stick

Dale Murphy deserves better.

The Atlanta Braves center fielder is recognized among his peers as being one of the top performers in baseball. But despite back-to-back MVP awards (1982-83), despite being last year’s National League home run champion with 37, Murphy hasn’t attracted anywhere near the national attention that used to go to baseball heroes like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

You can blame that partially on the fact that Murphy, always quiet and unassuming, does little to draw attention to himself, simply going about his job and avoiding posturing and off-field antics. It also doesn’t help that the Braves have fared so poorly as a team, or that Atlanta is out of the mainstream of the sort of media blitz that focuses on New York players like Dwight Gooden.

Murphy’s situation is similar to the one Aaron faced until the nation suddenly became aware that Hammerin’ Hank was closing in on Ruth’s career home run record.

“We had one of the best teams ever put together back there in the late ‘50s when we were winning pennants at Milwaukee,” said Aaron. “But being in Milwaukee and not in New York, we never got the attention we deserved.”

Aaron became one of baseball’s immortals when he surpassed Ruth, becoming the talk of the nation in 1973-74 as his home run total grew.

“I had no idea of how much interest I was going to attract as I got closer to that record,” Aaron recalled. “It was almost unbearable. It was as though I lived in a goldfish bowl. It got so I couldn’t go out to a restaurant or any other public place without drawing a crowd. There was a period there when I had to live almost like a hermit to avoid the crush.”

Granted, Murphy is a late bloomer. Going into his 11th major league season at age 30, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound outfielder had a career batting average of only .278. But it’s the past four seasons that should have given him more national recognition than he has received.

In those four years, although his best batting average was .302, Murphy hit 145 home runs and drove in 441 runs, getting at least 36 homers and 100 RBIs in each of those years.

In the comparable four years (1960-63), when Aaron was 26-29 years old, baseball’s all-time home run champ had 163 homers and 505 RBI. That averages out to only 4 1/2 more homers and 16 more RBIs than Murphy for each of those four years, although Aaron had a much higher batting average.

“In all fairness to Dale, it must be pointed out that he has pretty much had to carry the Braves on his back offensively,” said Aaron. “All those injuries sustained by Bob Horner left Dale exposed. If he were in a lineup where the people around him were also dangerous, opposing teams wouldn’t have been able to pitch around him as much as they have.

“It really helps to be surrounded by other good players. It takes away the sort of pressure Dale has been put under by being expected to do so much himself.”

Murphy faces those same pressures this season. Through the first 17 games, he was batting .339 with four homers -- but the Braves were only 7-10.

“There isn’t a whole lot Dale can do to attract more attention,” said Aaron. “One of these days he may do something out of the ordinary -- like the year Roger Maris hit 61 home runs or the year I broke Ruth’s record. But just being a consistently outstanding ballplayer, which he is, doesn’t do it.

“It’s certainly going to be tough this season with both of those New York teams doing so well,” said Aaron. “But, you never know. Dale has one advantage I didn’t have. Thanks to cable television, he gets to play every night before millions of people. There are a lot of fans who know who he is and what he can do.”

Aaron feels baseball needs a new hero.

It’s been 45 years since the major leagues had a .400 hitter (Williams) and just as long since DiMaggio had his 56-game hitting streak. Only twice in the 25 years since Maris stirred baseball fans by hitting 61 home runs has there been anyone who hit as many as 50. And a dozen years have past since Aaron took the spotlight by surpassing Ruth’s other home run record.

“There’s been so many bad things associated with baseball in recent years, especially the drugs, that we need someone to come along and give the game a lift,” said Aaron. “I don’t know if Dale can do that. He’s like I was, not one to go out of his way to attract attention to himself.

“But other players see him. They know what he can do.”