Eddie was steady first baseman

Eddie was steady first baseman
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter

My favorite memory of the best first baseman I've seen in 24 years of covering the Indians and Major League Baseball came one spring training in Winter Haven, Fla. While his teammates were sweating under a late February sun, taking batting practice against pitchers for one of the first times since the end of the previous season, Eddie Murray stood behind the cage studying the path of each pitch.

Hitters hate the first few days of BP. The pitchers always have the advantage because they've been in camp a week longer. A hitter's day, in that situation, consists of bad swings, broken bats and avoiding getting hit in the head by some wild-armed, spring-training invitee trying to impress the manager.

Murray, well on his way to the Hall of Fame by that time, knew this. Which is why, along with his seniority, he was excused from the first few days of "live" BP.

When asked when he would start swinging the bat, Murray, showing eloquence, said, "There shall be no wine before its time."

Murray didn't play a lot of first base during his stay with the Indians from 1994 until he was traded in 1996. He was used mostly as a DH, but the man knew what to do with a glove.

He played 2,413 games at first, more games than anyone in history. He wasn't as flashy as contemporary Don Mattingly, who won nine Gold Gloves, but he was more durable and productive.

Murray was nicknamed Steady Eddie during the first 12 years of his career in Baltimore. The yearly numbers were usually just short of flashy, but after 21 seasons, the totals were staggering. Murray, who never hit more than 33 homers or drove in more than 124 runs in a year, became just the third man in history to hit over 500 homers and 3,000 hits when he retired.

Willie Mays and Hank Aaron are the other two.

He drove in 1,917 runs, the most by a switch-hitter, and went to eight All-Star games.

Murray did not like reporters. He spent most of his career in a cold war with them. When he did talk, his words and opinions were enlightening. It just didn't happen enough.

It did not stop him from being a first ballot Hall of Famer because his numbers could not be ignored.

Murray treated teammates and clubhouse staff warmly. At first base, he never shut up when an opposing runner reached base. And he took terrible batting practice.

Hitters as big and strong as the 6-2, 220-pound Murray like to show off in BP. They try to see how far they can hit every pitch. Murray practiced jam shots and flares. He knew he could hit a 65 mph fastball from bullpen coach Luis Isaac out of the park, but he didn't know if he could take that same pitch and dump it 15 feet over the second baseman's head.

It's one of the reasons he finished his career with 3,255 hits.

Murray gave the emerging Indians of the mid-1990s legitimacy. He was one of the few people in the organization not intimidated by Albert Belle. After Belle hit 50 homers and 52 doubles in 1995, he wrote 50-50 on the back of his baseball shoes.

"What's that," asked Murray, "your I.Q.?"

Murray reached 3,000 hits on June 30, 1995 against Minnesota on a single through the right side of the infield. Belle, on second base, stopped at third.

Years after the hit, Murray, the Tribe's hitting coach at the time, was asked what he remembered about the historic hit.

"Albert should have scored," said Murray.

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