No Trade in Sight, Murphy Braves Another Season in Atlanta

If a picture is worth a thousand words, as thousands of photographers insist, then I’ll give you an instance when the lack of a picture is more telling than millions of words.

The place-this-picture-isn’t is on the cover of the Atlanta Braves 1989 media guide.

This picture that isn’t on the cover of said media guide is a picture of Dale Murphy.

Oh, you say, so Ted Turner’s picture is on the cover. That shouldn’t be particularly surprising, given his ego and the fact that he does own the team.

Except Ted Turner’s picture is not on the cover either.

The Braves’ cover boys this year are, roll the drums, Gerald Perry, Tom Glavine, Ron Gant, Pete Smith and Andres Thomas. It should be a “Who’s Who?”--note the question mark--rather than a media guide.

On this cover, there was no room for a guy coming into his 14th season with 1,675 games played, 1,005 runs scored, 334 home runs hit and 1,004 runs batted in . . . all with the aforementioned Braves.

It was easy to get the impression that the Braves did not really expect Murphy to be with them when the season started. I checked inside under Dale Murphy and found six pages of biographical material and statistics, but I presume they were perforated for easy removal.

Of course, Padre fans would love to see that biographical material and statistics plunked into the middle of their media guide. Murphy does get a mention there under the heading of “Most Home Runs Against San Diego” by active players: 49. But that’s not the same as having him listed on an alphabetical roster between Carmelo Martinez and Mark Parent.

Indeed, for much of the 1988-89 off-season, San Diego was awash with rumors that the Padres were going to acquire Dale Murphy. Many folks confidently talked of when it would happen rather than if, and their dreams danced with visions of Tony Gwynn, Jack Clark and Murphy in the same batting order.

Zap! Boom! Pow!

These would be real bat men.

It was not to happen, and won’t for the foreseeable future.

Atlanta showed up this week for its first San Diego visit of the year with its non-cover boy in center field and its media guide intact.

It should be noted that Murphy endured a very sub-par year in 1988, batting .226 with 24 home runs and 77 RBI. It was following such a year that it became obvious that Atlanta general manager Bobby Cox was shopping his erstwhile star like a grocery store coupon, looking to get three or four for the price of one.

This type of experience, the bad year followed by an uncertain winter, was a bit different for a player and man of Murphy’s stature.

“It was an interesting winter,” Murphy said. “There’s not too much to say now, but I told Bobby earlier that I’d consider it if something came up. I could pretty much say yes or no. But I’m not thinking of any of that stuff now. My main focus is the ballclub.”

As a 10-year veteran with five years with the same club, Murphy can approve or disapprove of any trades.

Thus far, there have been no trades for him to consider.

And so Murphy remains an Atlanta Brave, which is what he has always been.

“Nobody could be happier with where he’s at,” Murphy said. “I might not be in the big leagues if it weren’t for Atlanta sticking with me and giving me a chance. The whole thing for me is to concentrate on where I am and what my job is.”

That’s a problem now, because Murphy’s job is to hit and he isn’t. He was three for 24 for a .125 average through Monday night. All three of his hits were singles, and he had no RBI. This was no way to bounce back from the disappointment of 1988.

“I have to take better swings,” he said, “and I haven’t been.”

Meanwhile, the Padres, such ardent suitors through the off-season, seem inclined to go with the players they have. Catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., the organization’s most valuable superfluous commodity, is playing in Las Vegas and hoping to be traded, but McKeon views him as money in the bank.

“My thinking has changed drastically,” Manager Jack McKeon said. “I’m satisfied with the four outfielders we’ve got. I feel if I sit on Alomar a little longer, maybe June or July or August, I’ll need something more important (than an outfielder). I have plenty of time to weigh all my options.”

It would seem, further, that these negotiations, such as they were, have been dead for quite some time.

“I haven’t talked to the Braves since the first week of March, when I told them I was interested,” McKeon said. “If they wanted to do something, all they had to do was call me. They’ve never called.”

Things are going reasonably well these days for the Padres, who could probably still use a Dale Murphy despite McKeon’s insistence that he is comfortable with what he has.

Things are not going very well these days for Dale Murphy, who maybe deserves a fresh start despite his insistence that he is happy with an organization that seems intent on getting rid of him.

However, as things stand now, this Brave’s new world will not be in San Diego.