Longtime Giants Equipment Manager Gets His Title
Owner Bill Neukom, holding the World Series trophy, called for teary-eyed Mike Murphy down the hallway and handed off the hardware to the man who very much deserved to carry it into the clubhouse.
"Gonna take it to the boys. Gotta take it to the boys," Murphy said as he made his way through the madness and into the middle of a champagne party.
Murphy began with the Giants as a bat boy in 1958, the club's first season out West from New York, and he has never left. He has never missed a home game in all these years either.
The man who goes simply by "Murph" has seen it all with this team. Three World Series misses, and now this long overdue championship for a city just waiting to celebrate its baseball team.
"He is such an integral part of what we do," said Neukom, who captured a World Series crown in his second full season as managing partner. "As Mike Krukow always says and all veterans and Hall of Famers come back and say, 'When you cross the threshold into Murph's clubhouse, you're a Giant. You're in the best clubhouse in Major League Baseball, win or lose."'
Murphy saw Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda fall short in 1962. He used to watch a young Barry Bonds bounce around the clubhouse at Candlestick Park with his late father, Bobby.
"It means a lot to me after all these years of being a bridesmaid to all of a sudden be a bride again," the 68-year-old Murphy said. "I feel happy the boys did it. It's sinking in to me. It's one of those things that's unbelievable."
Murphy is a fixture in the franchise. He quietly goes about his business — politely uttering the phrase "I don't bother nobody" — while knowing what players need, their quirks and moods.
Perhaps nobody more so than Bonds, who departed after breaking Hank Aaron's home run record in 2007. The seven-time NL MVP was quick to congratulate the Giants on Monday night, and Murphy in particular.
"I also want to congratulate Mike Murphy, who has spent over 50 years working tirelessly for the organization," Bonds wrote on his Web site. "Murph has witnessed so much Giants history and I am thrilled that he finally gets his San Francisco Giants World Series Championship."
Bonds was far from the only one thrilled for Murphy.
"I'm probably the happiest for Murph of anybody, no question," said J.T. Snow, a former first baseman turned coach and special assistant. "In fact, I would give him that World Series trophy and let him take it home. He has meant more to this organization than anybody."