Joe Craig McMurtry (born November 5, 1959) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

(1983–86), Texas Rangers (1988–90) and Houston Astros (1995). He was named the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

Temple College Temple College is a public community college in Temple, Texas, with regional branch campuses at other locations in Central Texas. History Temple Junior College was founded in 1926 to serve post-secondary students in eastern Bell County, Texa ...

in 2013.

Career

In 1982, McMurtry was Pitcher of the Year for the International League's Richmond Braves. In 1983, he finished seventh in voting for the National League Cy Young Award and second in voting for National League Rookie of the Year, to Darryl Strawberry, for having a 15–9 record with a 3.08 ERA in 36 games, 35 of them started. He also completed six games and shutout three. In eight seasons, he had a 28–42 win–loss record, 212 games, 79 games started, six complete games, three shutouts, 36 games finished, four saves, innings pitched, 650 hits allowed, 341 runs allowed, 303 earned runs allowed, 54 home runs allowed, 336 walks allowed, 349 strikeouts, 10 hit batsmen, 18 wild pitches, 2,921 batters faced, 17 intentional walks, eight balks and a 4.08 ERA. On June 4, 1986, McMurtry gave up Barry Bonds's first career home run. Looking back on the play twenty years later he said "It was a

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...

, down and away. He took it the other way. I don't know how he hit it." On February 2, 1987, McMurtry was traded by the Braves to the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

for Damaso Garcia and Luis Leal. However, McMurtry never played a game for the Blue Jays. Also, Leal never played for the Braves, while Garcia played only 21 games for them, batting .117 before being released. After the conclusion of his playing career, McMurtry coached the baseball team at

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
1959 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from Texas Diablos Rojos del México players Greenville Braves players Gulf Coast Rangers players Houston Astros players Knoxville Blue Jays players Major League Baseball pitchers McLennan Highlanders baseball players Mexican League baseball pitchers Oklahoma City 89ers players People from Bell County, Texas Phoenix Firebirds players Richmond Braves players Savannah Braves players Syracuse Chiefs players Texas Rangers players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Tucson Toros players Temple Leopards coaches Junior college baseball coaches in the United States Junior college athletic directors in the United States Minor league baseball coaches {{US-baseball-pitcher-1950s-stub