Murray’s Motto: Let’s Play 162

Eddie Murray, who serves as the hitting coach of the rebuilding Cleveland Indians, said Saturday that sometimes it’s “tough watching” today’s young players.

At a news conference for Murray and Gary Carter, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame today, Murray said that players coming into the major leagues now are “definitely bigger and stronger and you can’t fault them if they don’t have the pain threshold that Gary and I did.

“Where I see a problem is that they don’t always have the 162-game [mentality] that we did. I took pride when I signed a contract. That number [162] was the number I eyeballed, and I have a problem sometimes dealing with what goes on out there because of the way I think.

“I don’t think a lot of the kids care to play 162. They don’t look at that open date in June and say ‘that’s my day off.’ [But] you can’t fault them. Not all of them had what I had.”

He referred to a Los Angeles upbringing in which he was not allowed to miss school and there was pride in being part of the competitive Murray family.

The “Just Regular” necklace he used to wear was an extension of that upbringing, Murray said.

“I didn’t let becoming a professional player affect the way I was raised,” he said, adding with all seriousness, “I was a dream [to manage].”

Murray played a full slate of 162 games only once in a 21-year career but he played 160 or more games six times, 150 or more 15 times and more games than any first baseman in history.

The usually impassive Murray said it made him “puff my chest out” when he toured the Hall several months ago and saw his ranking in that and several other categories, including the top 10 for RBIs -- “the kinds of things you don’t think of as a kid or a young player first starting.”

He added that he struggled with the concept of being elected to the Hall of Fame initially but has come to accept that he belongs, although some of the 44 members who have returned for the induction have made sure that he and Carter know that they are once again rookies.

As for working with the young players, Murray said, “It’s like twisting a light bulb. Sometimes you want to say, ‘Are you hearing me?’ Our team is so young that you can’t judge, but it seems like the lightbulb is coming on for maybe four of our kids, and it’s great to see progress.”