Shout out to long time A's outfielder Dwayne Murphy who was born on this day in 1955.
He was a good hitter and terrific fielder with six gold gloves to his name. He was also known for batting behind Rickey Henderson for many years. Murphy was a great second hitter as he was willing to sacrifice strikes to give Henderson an advantage on the base paths.Henderson is regarded as the greatest lead off hitter in baseball history and holds the record for most career steals and most steals in a single season.
Today's Baseball Birthday Quote of the Day is about Murphy's role in Henderson breaking the single season steal record with 130 steals.
"If I could break this bag in half, I'd give the other half to Dwayne Murphy."
--Rickey Henderson, after Henderson received a symbolic bag for breaking the single season stolen base record
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One of baseball most underrated pitcher's, Dave Stewart was born on February 19th, 1957.
I say underrated and I will tell you why. Despite winning twenty games in 4 consecutive seasons, including leading the league in victories on one of those occasions, he did not win a Cy Young Award. Even more incredibly, despite all his success, he was only selected for one all-star team. How could that be?
Plus, he was a very clutch player--twice winning the ALCS MVP and in 1989, winning the World Series MVP. He played for five different teams over his career starting with the Dodgers, but the bulk of his great years were with the A's. That is why it is appropriate that his manager on the A's, Hall of Famer Tony LaRussa provides us with the Baseball Birthday Quote of the Day about Dave Stewart.
"Every once in a while even Sinatra has to clear his throat."
--Tony LaRussa, explaining a short losing streak by Dave Stewart
