Friday, October 6, 2023

DEDICATED ROOKIE: 1979 DWAYNE MURPHY

Fun card to add to the WTHBALLS stable today, my 1979 "dedicated rookie" for Oakland A's outfielder Dwayne Murphy:


Murphy put in a very nice 12-year career in the Major Leagues between 1978 and 1989, and sadly can be overlooked since he happened to come up at the same time as another Oakland outfielder, Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson.
But between 1980 and 1985 Murphy was as solid as you could ask, winning six straight Gold Glove Awards while also a "double-threat" at the plate, hitting as many as 33 home runs (1984) while also stealing as many as 26 bases (1980 and 1982).
The center-fielder led the league in putouts at his position three times, assists once and "Range Factor" for you analytics guys four straight seasons between 1980 and 1983.
By the time he retired after the 1989 season, he finished with 166 homers, 100 stolen bases and a .246 average over 1360 games and 4347 at-bats.