Danny Murtaugh

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Daniel Edward Murtaugh (October 8, 1917 – December 2, 1976) was an American second baseman and manager in Major League Baseball best known for his 29-year association with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a player and manager. He threw and batted right-handed.

A native of Chester, Pennsylvania, Murtaugh played during nine seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies (1941-43, 1946), Boston Braves (1947) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1948-51).

In his rookie season Murtaugh led National League players in stolen bases (18). He was a .254 career hitter with eight home runs and 219 RBI in 767 games. His most productive season came in 1948, when he hit .290 and posted career highs in RBI (71), runs (56), doubles (21), triples (5) and games played (146). In 1950 he hit .294, also a career-high.

After retiring as a player, he managed the minor league New Orleans Pelicans briefly before joining the Pirates, for 15 seasons (1957-64, 1967, 1970-71, 1973-76). Murtaugh guided the team to two World Series championships (1960, 1971) and four Eastern Division titles (1970-71, 1974-75). As a manager, he compiled a 1,115-950 record in 2068 games (.540). Murtuagh originally retired following the 1964 season, citing health problems. He took a front office job with the Pirates, evaluating players for general manager Joe L. Brown. Murtaugh was pressed into service as an interim manager when Harry Walker was fired during the 1967 season. He then returned to his front office role.

Murtaugh was well aware of the abundance of talent in the system, and asked to reclaim the managing job after Larry Shepard was fired in the last week of the 1969 season. Once he received medical clearance, Murtaugh returned to managing. (Only hours after this re-hiring on October 9, Don Hoak, his third baseman on the 1960 Pirates World Series champions and a manager in the Pirates farm system, died of a heart attack. Hoak had believed himself a leading contender for the Pirates' managerial job; Brown would later say that Hoak had not been a candidate.) He led the Pirates to a National League East Division title in 1970 and 1971, and they won the 1971 World Series. Murtaugh stepped down after the 1971 season and his hand-picked successor, Bill Virdon, took over. When Brown fired Virdon in September of 1973, Murtaugh reluctantly came back to managing. He stayed through the 1976 season. He and Brown announced their retirements during the final week of the 1976 season.

In the 1990s, a fanzine named in his honor was created and edited by underground sportswriter Spike Vrusho. "Murtaugh" combined retro baseball perspectives with punk rock attitudes to honor the pugnacious characters of the sport and the musical genre simultaneously.

Murtaugh died in his hometown of a stroke at age 59, two months after retiring. His number 40 was retired by the Pirates in 1977.

[edit] Highlights

• Led NL in stolen bases (1941)
• Led NL second basemen in putouts, assists and double plays (1948)
• Finished 9th in the NL MVP selection (1948)
• Selected "Man of the Year" by SPORT magazine (1960)
• Twice received The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award (1960, 1970)
• One of only 36 managers in major league history to win 1,000 or more games

[edit] See also

• List of Major League Baseball retired numbers
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions

[edit] External links

• Baseball Reference.com - managing record and playing statistics
• Baseball Hall of Fame - 2008 Veterans Committee candidate profile

[edit] References

• "Baseball Pays Its Respects to Murtaugh at Funeral," New York Times, Dec. 7, 1976.