Tim Murnane

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Timothy Hayes Murnane (June 4, 1852 - February 7, 1917) was an American sportswriter specializing in baseball, the leading baseball writer at The Boston Globe for about thirty years until his death. At the same time, he organized and led professional sports leagues and helped govern the baseball industry. He had been a professional baseball player, including several seasons in the major leagues where he played as a first baseman and center fielder.

Born in Naugatuck, Connecticut and acquiring the Irish brogue from his father, Murnane attended Holy Cross prep school in Worcester, Massachusetts and played as a catcher for the Stratford, Connecticut club in 1869. He remained at catcher for two seasons with Savannah but moved to center field for the Mansfield club of Middletown, Connecticut, midseason 1871. That club entered the professional National Association for 1872, which begins Murnane's major league career in records that count the NA as a major league.^[1] He was the Mansfields' regular first basemen; that would be his most common fielding position but he played only a few full seasons "every day".

Following the 1872 Mansfields, Murnane played in the majors for the Philadelphia Athletics (1873-1874), Philadelphia White Stockings (1875), Boston Red Caps (1876-1877), Providence Grays (1878) —as the first player signed by a new club— and finally and Boston Reds (1884).

During eight seasons in the major leagues Murnane batted .261 with five home runs and 127 runs batted in. Highlights of his playing days would include finishing fifth in the National Association batting race with an average of .359 in 1872, and leading the NA with 30 stolen bases in 1875.

While Providence won the championship in its second season, the 27-year old Murnane was no longer on the team or in the league. In 1879 and 1880, he played part-time for Capital City (in Albany, New York), Rochester, and Albany, before retiring "to open a saloon and billard hall in Boston" (Ellard 1996).

Tim Murnane returned to baseball and the major leagues for one year when the Union Association challenged the newly-organized baseball industry, placing one of its eight clubs in Boston, backed by George Wright with Murnane one minor investor. Only 32, he served as recruiter, captain, and first baseman of the Boston Reds and guided them to a fifth-place finish with a record of 58-51. They did not threaten the National League in Boston, home to the NL's champion team and one of its anchor franchises. Rather, the Reds or "Unions" were a welcome but decidedly lesser attraction when the Beaneaters were out of town.

After his career in uniform, Murnane served as president of the minor league New England League and Eastern League, and went on to a 30-year career as a sportswriter and baseball editor with The Boston Globe.

Murnane died in 1917 at age 64 of a heart attack while attending the opera at Schubert Theatre in Boston. He is buried in Old Dorchester Burial Ground, Boston.

In 1946 the Baseball Hall of Fame established a Roll of Honor and named Murnane one of twelve writers to be honored. He was selected as recipient of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for excellence in baseball journalism in 1978.

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Baseball Hall of Fame - Spink Award recipient

[edit] References

• Eldred, Rich (1996). "Timothy Hayes Murnane". Baseball's First Stars. Edited by Frederick Ivor-Campbell, et al. Cleveland, OH: SABR. ISBN 0-910137-58-7
• Retrosheet. "Tim Murnane". Retrieved 2006-09-05.