My father was born in 1919 and grew up in the Bronx. In a neighborhood filled almost exclusively with Yankees’ fans he became a New York Giants fan.
In introducing me to baseball in the mid 1950’s and specifically to Giants’ history he often cited the accomplishment of Carl Hubbell who in the 1934 All-Star Game struck out five future Hall of Famers consecutively. They were Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin.
That he told me about this in the 1950s and often cited it thereafter made it a legendary event not just in Giants’ history but also in baseball history.
It makes me wonder whether we will be telling our children and grandchildren 20 or more years down the road what Daniel Murphy, no Hall of Famer like Hubbell, pulled off during mid September of 2015.
Clayton Kershaw is already a lock to make Cooperstown one day and Zack Greinke is moving briskly in that direction too. Jon Lester has an outside chance himself but he will have to be great for the next five to eight years in order to make the cut.
In game two of the current Mets/Cubs series Murphy will face Jake Arrieta. If the series goes six or seven games then the Mets and Murph will face Arrieta a second time. Arrieta is even less likely to make the Hall than Lester since he has started to be outstanding at such a late age. Arrieta was dominating in 2014 but as a 28 year old. His 22 win season in 2015 came as a 29 year old. He likely needs a Koufaxian 10 year run to move into Hall of Fame territory. It’s possible yet unlikely.
But let’s say two things happen. One is that Murphy tags Arrieta at least once for a home run in this series. The other is that Arrieta stays great through 2024. Might we be telling future young baseball fans of the fortnight during which Murphy homered off of four different future Hall of Famers during the 2015 playoffs?
That would be awesome!
I don’t think Brian would mind my saying so. This post was written by me, not Brian.
Sorry Larry – this has been fixed.
So regardless we are watching something very special Indeed. He’s already tied Clendenon post season HR mark. He’s made some phenomenal plays. He’s hit more HR off of lefty pitching than he did all season. Forget Arrietta. He no hall of famer. The air is gonna burst out of that balloon. I’m thinking quite possibly tonight.
His performance this entire season has been extraordinary at various moments, sprinkled with standard Murphy quality. He will be sorely missed.
Is it out of the question that we are seeing a sudden elevation in Murphey’s game? Could his next five years be Jeff Kent-esque?
Hell if I know, but if his work with Kevin Long to seek out opportunities to drive the ball results in some 25-30 home run seasons, if ain’t the craziest thing to imagine Murph gaining some support for a plaque in Cooperstown some day. A Series win with Murphy a big factor would go a long way toward establishing that sort of cred.
Homers off the 3 best pitchers in the league, clutch hits with men on base, diving plays at second, heads up base running. If we get to the WS and he keeps this up, he will be remembered as the hero of the 2015 post season.
Had he not gotten off to a slow start after missing spring training and had that spring injury, Murph would have had a career year. If the Mets can’t keep him, a smart team will sign him to play 3rd base and bat second or third, and they’ll be a better team for it.
The article was written before Murph had a chance to face Arrieta and now we know that he has homered off of him too. That means five HRs coming off four incredible pitchers. It’s doubtful that Kershaw, Greinke, Lester, and Arrieta all make the Hall of Fame but even if they don’t Murphy has had a post season for the ages.
Maybe someone posted this in the Chatter but I saw a stat somewhere that only two guys have hit HR against those four pitchers over their entire career while Murphy did it in about two weeks.
A Murphy homer off Arrieta? Check!
A while back, I put forth the idea here that Murphy was on the list of all-time Mets top 50 players.
I figured he came in somewhere around 45, give or take, and got a little heat for it.
He making a nice case for himself.
…and how timely of you to point that out, ha!
this is probably a stupid question but i gotta ask.
if the mets give murphy a QO,
and he declines it, does that mean the mets can’t resign him as a FA, until sometime in may? this of course, is based on the assumption that the mets might actually try to resign him.
No, they would still have the chance to re-sign him for the start of the season.
ok, thanks. i can’t quite remember which team, but i recall a year or two ago, another mlb team ran into some situation that they couldn’t/ weren’t allowed to resign their player until may or june.
looking forward to reading your byline after tonight’s game. i’m hoping it’s titled ” Mets one win away!!! ”
lets go mets!!!!
I think that’s if you don’t offer arbitration/QO