Indians Send Murray to Orioles

Eddie Murray, who began his path toward the Hall of Fame in Baltimore, was traded back to the Orioles on Sunday in a swap that sent pitcher Kent Mercker to the Cleveland Indians.

The deal involved two players who had been disappointments to their teams.

Murray, coming off a season in which he batted .323, was batting .262 with 12 home runs and 45 runs batted in over 88 games.

Murray spent his first 12 seasons with the Orioles, teaming with Cal Ripken to help win the 1983 World Series. The first baseman-designated hitter has 491 career home runs, and is close to joining Hank Aaron and Willie Mays as the only major leaguers with 500 homers and 3,000 hits.

Murray will be a designated hitter with the Orioles. That spot has been a problem, particularly because Bobby Bonilla wants to be an outfielder instead of only the DH.

Several Indian players did not seem happy with the trade, including Dennis Martinez.

“I don’t like it and I don’t agree with the move, but we will have to see what happens,” Martinez said. “Eddie is still able to hit and he does all the other things to help a team win.”

Mercker, 28, was 3-6 with a 7.76 earned-run average in 14 games. The Orioles got him in an off-season trade with Atlanta, hoping he could push them toward a championship, but he struggled and soon fell out of the rotation.

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Baltimore outfielder Brady Anderson, who sat out the last three games because of appendicitis, said he will try to finish the season without surgery.

“It’s just a risk I wanted to take,” he said. “My desire is always to play. That’s what I do.”

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EDDIE MURRAY’S STATISTICS WITH THE ORIOLES

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Years Avg. Hits HR RBI 12 .295 2,021 333 1,190 WITH OTHER TEAMS* 7 1/2 .278 1,138 158 675 CAREER 19 1/2 .289 3,159 491 1,865

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*--Dodgers, Mets, Indians