Dale Murphy’s message to the attendees at Monday’s Friends of Scouting Luncheon at the Chattanooga Convention Center was similar to the previous 20 featured speakers who have helped bring in donors for the Cherokee Area Council’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
While the 68-year-old former Atlanta Braves star talked about the importance of scouting and the lasting effect serving others can have on a young person’s life — as previous speakers surely have done — the most important things “Murph” had to offer the youth in attendance are difficult to put into words, especially in 20 minutes.
If scout leaders and parents really want to make a lasting impression, they need to go beyond the words and find the deeper message of perseverance, work ethic and kindness that are prevalent in Murphy’s career and life — his true legacy.
It was pointed out prior to Murphy taking the dais that he is a two-time National League Most Valuable Player, and that he won five Gold Gloves, four Silver Slugger awards and was a seven-time all-star.
All true. As are the facts that, for a 10-year span beginning in 1981, he led all Major League Baseball players in home runs and RBIs. He finished 12th or better in MVP voting six times. He once played in all 162 games four consecutive seasons and, in a nine-year span ending in 1990, he never played fewer than 154 games.
But, in the end, those are just numbers, and kids today — heck, even most adults — aren’t impressed easily by such things.
Want a couple of life lessons that might stick? Consider the following:
› In Dale Murphy’s first full-time season in 1978 he hit .226 and led the league in both strikeouts (145) and errors by a first baseman (20).
In 1979, the one-time catching prospect committed five errors and allowed 11 passed balls in 27 games behind the plate. His final game at catcher ended when he took a knuckleball from Phil Niekro squarely on the knee, forcing him to miss nearly two months. He also made 15 errors at first base in just 76 games that year.
That could have been the end for Murphy’s career, at least in Atlanta. Who wants a player who strikes out all the time and is a defensive liability? Maybe he could become a serviceable designated hitter in the American League.
Instead, the 24-year-old 6-foot-4 athlete reinvented himself into an outfielder — and not some warm body that had to be put in left field. He, in fact, became one of the game’s best center fielders, earning his first Gold Glove during the 1982 MVP season.
“Yea, I questioned myself early on and wasn’t sure if I belonged,” Murphy said. “Even after I won back-to-back MVPs, I had moments when I doubted things.
“But I always believed you can’t quit a job or a team as soon as it gets difficult. You can’t give up. The moment you want to run away is the moment you have to dig in the most.”
› Though it may have been easy to overlook his accomplishments on the field for mostly bad Braves teams, Murphy’s character and selflessness off it were impossible to ignore.
He won both the Lou Gehrig Award, given to the player who best fits the image and character of the former Yankee great, and the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, named after the late Pittsburgh player and given annually to a player in recognition of his character and charitable contributions.
Hall of Famer Joe Torre once famously said of Murphy, “If you’re a coach, you want him as a player. If you’re a father, you want him as a son. If you’re a woman, you want him as a husband. If you’re a kid, you want him as a father. What else can you say about the guy?”
Former manager Chuck Tanner once said, “I’ve never known anyone like him. God only makes one like Dale every 50 years.”
When asked about such talk, Murphy, who would rather talk about this year’s Braves (“really good if they stay healthy”) or visiting his successful Murph’s restaurant near Truist Park (“it’s a lot of fun getting to see and talk to the fans”), admits the humanitarian part of his legacy means the most to him.
“Anyone’s legacy shouldn’t be defined by how much money they make or how many records they broke,” he said. “People might not remember every home run you hit or how many MVPs you won.
“But they will remember how you treated them and made them feel.”
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.
Staff photo by Abby White / Dale Murphy, second from left, poses with Mark Williams, Randall Shops, and David Thompson for a photo. Former Atlanta Braves Outfielder Dale Murphy was a featured guest and speaker at the Friends of Scouting Luncheon on Monday, February 24, 2025 at the Chattanooga Convention Center.