Fun facts and baseball card talk on our Facebook page - Eddie Murray to start

[Tony-OH]

We have started to post fun facts andold Orioles baseball card talk on our facebook page. Come over and join the fun when you are not here.

https://www.facebook.com/OriolesHangout

Here's the latest:

Some fun facts about Eddie Murray! What are your fun facts?

1) If you want to know when Eddie Murray's relationship with the Orioles may have began to sour, try 1986. That year Eddie's salary was cut from $1,472,819 to $925,814 despite putting up a 5.6 rWAR season in 1985.

2) When Eddie won the Rookie of the year in 1977, he put up a 3.2 rWAR. Oakland's Mitchell Page, who came in second, had a 6.0 rWAR. Good thing for Eddie his main competitors for RoY were from losing ballclubs when back then those things counted.

3) In 1978, Eddie started three games at 3B at the beginning of the season with Doug DeCinces at 2B and Lee May at 1B. After getting torched by the Brewers all three games in which each Murray, DeCinces and May made errors, Earl Weaver decide to install Murray as his everyday 1st baseman, May to DH, DeCinces to third and began Rich Dauer's run as the Orioles second baseman of the future. Earl may have made Cal into a SS, but it wasn't as successful making Eddie Murray into a 3B. Murray had played 17 games at 3B in the minors posting a horrid .837 fielding percentage.

[Tony-OH]

Murray was batting just .261/.318/.421/.739 on September 1st but a strong Sep/Oct when he hit 364/.393/.651/1.044 basically won him the RoY award.

[weams]

We have started to post fun facts andold Orioles baseball card talk on our facebook page. Come over and join the fun when you are not here.

https://www.facebook.com/OriolesHangout

Here's the latest:

Some fun facts about Eddie Murray! What are your fun facts?

1) If you want to know when Eddie Murray's relationship with the Orioles may have began to sour, try 1986. That year Eddie's salary was cut from $1,472,819 to $925,814 despite putting up a 5.6 rWAR season in 1985.

2) When Eddie won the Rookie of the year in 1977, he put up a 3.2 rWAR. Oakland's Mitchell Page, who came in second, had a 6.0 rWAR. Good thing for Eddie his main competitors for RoY were from losing ballclubs when back then those things counted.

3) In 1978, Eddie started three games at 3B at the beginning of the season with Doug DeCinces at 2B and Lee May at 1B. After getting torched by the Brewers all three games in which each Murray, DeCinces and May made errors, Earl Weaver decide to install Murray as his everyday 1st baseman, May to DH, DeCinces to third and began Rich Dauer's run as the Orioles second baseman of the future. Earl may have made Cal into a SS, but it wasn't as successful making Eddie Murray into a 3B. Murray had played 17 games at 3B in the minors posting a horrid .837 fielding percentage.

Good stuff.

[InsideCoroner]

Some other bits of Eddieology...

- Achieved 500+ HR and 3000+ hits without ever hitting 35 homers in a season or leading the league in any offensive category over a full season

- In 1984 during a 14-game trip in Japan, after being brushed back from the plate twice, he hit an 0-2 pitch an estimated 587 feet. Even if that estimate is absurd, he reportedly hit it so far that the fans in the right-field stands didn't even stand up, they just turned around and watched it clear the stadium. It made him a legend of sorts among the Japanese kids, Hideki Matsui among them, who recalled it during his MLB years.

- Wore a necklace that said, "Just Regular"

- Said Elrod Hendricks of Murray, "There are two kinds of people Eddie has no problem opening up to: kids and senior citizens. Those in between, he guards himself against."

- He did quite a lot of charitable work, but all of it voluntarily and anonymously. When the Mets requested his list of charitable work to nominate him for the Roberto Clemente award, he declined the request. When they got it from his agent, it was several pages long, and Murray was deeply upset that the list got released.

- His reaction to having his number 33 retired by the Orioles: "No comment."

- His 500th home run ball sold for $280,000 to the owner of the Psychic Friends Network (really) and can now be seen in the Sports Legends Museum.

- On May 8th, 1987, he homered from both sides of the plate. The next night, he did the same thing again, becoming the first player to ever do so in consecutive games.

- In the bottom of the 12th inning at Memorial Stadium on August 15th, 1979, Murray stole home against the White Sox to win the game, 2 to 1.

- Hitting with the bases loaded over his career (304 AB), Murray hit .399 with 19 grand slams, 298 RBI and a .739 slugging percentage.

[DrungoHazewood]

Some fun facts about Eddie Murray! What are your fun facts?

1) If you want to know when Eddie Murray's relationship with the Orioles may have began to sour, try 1986. That year Eddie's salary was cut from $1,472,819 to $925,814 despite putting up a 5.6 rWAR season in 1985.

Even in 1985 I'm not sure how that happened. Today the only way your salary goes down 30% is to have a really bad walk year.

2) When Eddie won the Rookie of the year in 1977, he put up a 3.2 rWAR. Oakland's Mitchell Page, who came in second, had a 6.0 rWAR. Good thing for Eddie his main competitors for RoY were from losing ballclubs when back then those things counted.

That's a head-scratcher, too. Page hit .307/21/85 with 42 steals and 5 caught. Eddie hit .283/27/88 with zero steals. I guess it's a combination of the Orioles' 2nd place finish, the A's last place, and Eddie's six homers and three RBI. Also, WAR wouldn't be invented for 20+ years, and Eddie had an all time great 'fro.

3) In 1978, Eddie started three games at 3B at the beginning of the season with Doug DeCinces at 2B and Lee May at 1B. After getting torched by the Brewers all three games in which each Murray, DeCinces and May made errors, Earl Weaver decide to install Murray as his everyday 1st baseman, May to DH, DeCinces to third and began Rich Dauer's run as the Orioles second baseman of the future. Earl may have made Cal into a SS, but it wasn't as successful making Eddie Murray into a 3B. Murray had played 17 games at 3B in the minors posting a horrid .837 fielding percentage.

The Orioles lost over 10 WAR in value from 1976-77. Bobby Grich, Reggie, and 20-game-winner Wayne Garland all left via free agency. That helped create the early season lineup chaos Tony describes.

[Pheasants]

Hitting with the bases loaded over his career (304 AB), Murray hit .399 with 19 grand slams, 298 RBI and a .739 slugging percentage.

That line has been the main reason I question the idea that there isn't such a thing as clutch. I'm sure someone can come up with a bad world series or something for Eddie, but there is no one I would like at the plate with the bases juiced more than Eddie.

[DrungoHazewood]

Hitting with the bases loaded over his career (304 AB), Murray hit .399 with 19 grand slams, 298 RBI and a .739 slugging percentage.

I don't want to derail the thread, but if you run a simulation that does not account for clutch ability at all and just assumes that everyone hits the same in all situations, you'll get players who have Murray's line in bases-loaded situations just by random variation. Pat Tabler was famous for being the guy who had the world's greatest bases loaded stats ever, and I think that's a pretty good piece of evidence for the point of view that sometimes stuff just happens.

[Tony-OH]

Even in 1985 I'm not sure how that happened. Today the only way your salary goes down 30% is to have a really bad walk year.

I'm with you. I don't know if it's bad data in Baseball reference or what but it seemed out of place.

[Redskins Rick]

Old Article by Richard Justice of the Post (Reprinted in the LA TIMES)

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-21/sports/sp-4774_1_eddie-murray-and-orioles

[InsideCoroner]

I don't want to derail the thread, but if you run a simulation that does not account for clutch ability at all and just assumes that everyone hits the same in all situations, you'll get players who have Murray's line in bases-loaded situations just by random variation. Pat Tabler was famous for being the guy who had the world's greatest bases loaded stats ever, and I think that's a pretty good piece of evidence for the point of view that sometimes stuff just happens.

I remember the color commentators would make a huge deal about that whenever they were playing Cleveland. The bases loaded were probably the only time that anyone on an opposing team uttered the words, "Oh no, it's Pat Tabler."