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sbenois
Citizen
Username: Sbenois
Post Number: 10132
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 2:21 pm: |     |
Bob Murphy, the Mets extraordinarily talented, Hall of Fame announcer, announced during the game today that he's calling it quits at the end of the year.
I intend to write more about this later but for now let me just say that this man has been an absolute genius and treasure to NY baseball since he began calling Mets games in 1962.
Bob, you are certainly going to be missed and I do hope that the team gives you a long overdue, well deserved day for your many years of brilliance. I also hope that Met fans fill the ballpark if there is a day because you earned it long ago.
I certainly intend to be there to offer you a standing ovation.
---> Brought to you by Sbenois Engineering LLC <---- |
Soda
Citizen
Username: Soda
Post Number: 1056
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 3:29 pm: | |
Selected Pre-1970 Bob Murphyisms:
"That Boog Powell is big enough to go bear-hunting with a buggy-whip!"
"Ron Hunt, hitting an even .299..."
"That ball went over the fence at the 371-foot mark, in straightaway left center field."
"As the old Dodger fans would say, it's a crucial sitiation."
"Casey, going with the percentages..."
Dennis Ribant could throw a strawberry through a battleship!"
"The likeable young lefthander from Shaddock, Rhode Island..."
"The classy little lefthander from Waco, texas. born on Christmas Day..."
--The Oracle of MOL
BTW: Ralph Kiner should follow Bob's lead. |
ml1
Citizen
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 1151
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, July 27, 2003 - 10:12 pm: | |
this news is the unhappiest recap I've ever heard. |
us2innj
Citizen
Username: Us2innj
Post Number: 794
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 5:31 am: | |
Now if we can only get rid of Fran Healy and Ralph Kiner. Fran is awful and Ralph is just, well old. I think there are times good ole Ralph thinks he is laying on a chaise at the Breakers and not at a ballpark.
Does Rusty Staub still do color for FoxSports? He was pretty dreadful too.
Murphy was the gem of Mets-casts. |
wendy
Citizen
Username: Wendy
Post Number: 454
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 9:01 am: | |
I also loved the third part of the fantastic broadcasting trio in their heyday: Lindsey Nelson, with his lovely sport jackets.
Ok, now I'm going to get my walker and go out for my morning constitutional. |
parkbench87
Citizen
Username: Parkbench87
Post Number: 280
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 9:07 am: | |
Good ole Lindsey Nelson "It's Going, Going Gone, a Home Run, a Home Run for Dave Kingman"
Bob Murphy is wonderful. And on the subject of Ralph Kiner, I actually think Ralph has become more lucid in his old age. Back in the early 80's when the Mets had Mookie in CF and Hubie Brooks at 3b, Ralph used to confuse them all the time. "Fly ball to CF Hubie is under it and he makes the catch". I remember one Kiners Korner when Hubie was sitting right next to Ralph and Ralph called him Mookie. I thought Hubie was going to knock him out. |
Robert Little
Citizen
Username: Boblittle
Post Number: 20
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 10:06 am: | |
If any of you Mets fans are interested, I have four box seats (sec. 4, row 512B, seats 1-4) for the Sunday, Aug. 3 game at Shea against the Cardinals. They include access to the Diamond Club and a pre-paid parking pass. Face value is $39 each, with the parking pass at $8. I can’t go. They’re available for a total of $100 and can be picked up in Maplewood Village. Private line me if you’re interested.
Robert Little |
Chris Dickson
Citizen
Username: Ironman
Post Number: 678
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 10:15 am: | |
That's too bad about Bob Murphy. He is great. There is nothing better than listening to him on the radio on a summer night ...
Yes, Ralph Kiner should have retired years ago ...
I still miss Tim McCarver. He was the best. The current Mets broadcasters suck worse than the team does ... |
Robert Little
Citizen
Username: Boblittle
Post Number: 24
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 10:24 am: | |
I have to disagree with Chris about my fellow former Memphian Tim McCarver. It kills me to say this about a Cardinal, but does anybody belabor the obvious more than McCarver? "What we have is a ballgame, where the team with the most runs at the end ... wins the game." I wonder if he caught too many Gibson fastballs with his helmet.
His back-up as Cards catcher Bob ("Just...a bit outside") Uecker is the man.
Robert Little |
Chris Dickson
Citizen
Username: Ironman
Post Number: 679
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 11:44 am: | |
07/27/2003 3:12 PM ET
Farewell to a legend
Hall of Fame broadcaster Murphy announces retirement
By Kevin Czerwinski / MLB.com
NEW YORK -- Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Murphy announced his retirement Sunday afternoon, bringing to an end an era of Mets baseball.
Murphy will continue to call games on WFAN radio in New York through the end of the season before leaving the booth at Shea Stadium that bears his name for the final time. He has called more than 6,000 Mets games in his career, including being behind the mike for all six of the club's trips to the postseason. His last game will be Sept. 25 against Pittsburgh at Shea.
The Mets will honor Murphy, who marked his 50th season as a broadcaster this year, at a date to be determined. His announcement came during Bob Murphy/Ralph Kiner Bobblehead Day at Shea. Kiner was in Cooperstown on Sunday for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Murphy received a standing ovation when his retirement was announced to the crowd. The Mets all went to the top step of the dugout and applauded while the pitchers came out of the bullpen and stood on the warning track to cheer.
"It's sad," Murphy, 78, said. "I'm feeling sadness more than anything else. I'm really going to miss it. It's very tough. Next year hasn't started yet and I'm already missing it. Maybe if I mind my manners maybe they'll invite me to come and do a game once a month.
"But Joye [his wife] and I have talked about it from time to time and we decided in the last two weeks. I've been around a long time. If you're a Marine Corps veteran of World War II you can't be young."
Murphy's retirement will leave the Hall of Famer Kiner as the club's last official link to the original Mets. Kiner, Murphy and the late Lindsey Nelson broadcast Mets games on television and radio from the team's inception through 1978. Murphy moved into the radio booth full-time in 1981 and has been partnered with Gary Cohen since 1989.
"Mets baseball is in good hands with Gary Cohen," Murphy said. "He's about as good as they come. Everyone has to stop sometime, though, and I'd say 50 years is a pretty good run."
Health problems caused Murphy to cut his schedule down three years ago to about 60 games a season. But he's doing well now and may even make the trip to San Diego next month. His brother, the late Jack Murphy, was a prominent sports writer in southern California. Qualcomm Park, where the Padres play, was once called Jack Murphy Stadium.
"There are so many things to think about," said Murphy, who got the Mets job after sending in an audition tape. "It takes you back to the days of Casey Stengel and George Weiss. Year after year we've been around so many good people."
He said calling the 1986 National League Championship Series against Houston stands out the most during his time with the Mets, though Gil Hodges and the 1969 Mets remain special.
Murphy, who began his career calling games for Ted Williams' Red Sox (1954-59) before moving on to Baltimore (1960-61), was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1994 when he was awarded the Ford C. Frick Award. He was given the William J. Slocum Long and Meritorious Service Award from the New York Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America in 2000. The radio booth at Shea was named in his honor last year.
The Oklahoma native returned from the war and began taking classes at the University of Tulsa on his GI bill. His brother helped land him the gig calling games for the Class-C Muskegee Reds. A year later he was calling games for Tulsa in the Texas League, taking over for the legendary Curt Gowdy. Murphy joined Gowdy in Boston seven years later.
"When I got to Boston, Curt Gowdy said to me that watching Ted Williams was going to be fun," Murphy said. "But he got hurt the first day of Spring Training. The second day he came back, though, during the regular season he went 8-for-9 in a doubleheader and would have had nine hits if Al Kaline didn't climb the wall to rob him of a home run. He was remarkable to watch."
The Red Sox courted Murphy again in the mid-Sixties when Gowdy went to NBC, but he stayed with the Mets and was rewarded in 1969 when New York won the World Series.
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ml1
Citizen
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 1152
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 1:30 pm: | |
Bob Murphy is both "remarkable" and "marvelous." |
#9Dream
Citizen
Username: 9dream
Post Number: 510
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 1:51 pm: | |
I'm a Yankee fan so I don't catch a lot of Mets games. I remember Ralph Kiner from the old days but hadn't heard him in years (and didn't realize he'd had a stroke) when I tuned in a Mets game a couple of years ago. I asked my wife, "does the play-by-play guy sound drunk to you?" He ought to pack it in as well.
And in fairness, I also think it's time for Bob Sheppard to consider retirement. He's a fixture and the benchmark for all stadium announcers with any class and I love him to death, but he's getting harder to understand in his old age. |
drewdix
Citizen
Username: Drewdix
Post Number: 342
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 2:31 pm: | |
Ralp Kiner did not have a stroke.
He suffers from Bell's Palsy which caused slurred speech among ther symptoms.
Part of his recent clarity may be attributed to succcessful ongoing meds & treatment of his disease. |
#9Dream
Citizen
Username: 9dream
Post Number: 513
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 3:01 pm: | |
Thanks, I was misinformed then. Someone told me he had had a stroke. |
Chris Dickson
Citizen
Username: Ironman
Post Number: 680
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 3:44 pm: | |
Oh, he had a hell of a stroke. That's why they call it Kiner's Korner. Hit all them home runs out there. Yes, sir, hell of a stroke ...
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