Timothy Hayes Murnane (June 4, 1851 – February 7, 1917) was an American
sportswriter
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...
specializing in
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
, regarded as the leading baseball writer at ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' for about 30 years until his death. At the same time, he organized and led
professional sports
In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought l ...
leagues and helped govern the baseball industry. He had been a
professional baseball
Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
player, and played several seasons in the
major leagues as a
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
and
center fielder.
Biography
Early life
Born in
Naugatuck, Connecticut
Naugatuck is a consolidated borough and town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town spans both sides of the Naugatuck River just south of Waterbury and includes the communities of Union City on the east side of the river, whi ...
, Murnane acquired his
Irish brogue from his father, an Irish immigrant. Little is known about his childhood; he mentioned in one of his newspaper columns that he attended school in a one-room rural schoolhouse. While some sources say Murnane attended Holy Cross prep school in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
, this is doubtful; searches in the school's archives show there was another man with the same name who attended, but he was from
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Fitchburg is a city in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The third-largest city in the county, its population was 41,946 at the 2020 census. Fitchburg is home to Fitchburg State University as well as 17 public and private e ...
, and Murnane was playing baseball in Connecticut during the years he was said to be at Holy Cross.
Playing career
During Murnane's early years in baseball, he played as a
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
for the
Stratford, Connecticut, club in ; some old-timers of that era said this club was called the Savannah Seniors. Murnane remained at catcher for two seasons with the Savannah Seniors, but moved to center field while with the
Middletown Mansfields club of
Middletown, Connecticut, halfway through the season. The Mansfields entered the professional
National Association for , which begins Murnane's major league career in records that count the
National Association as a major league. 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 (1873–74),
Philadelphia White Stockings (1875),
Boston Red Caps
The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta.
During it ...
(1876–77),
Providence Grays
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leag ...
(1878)—as the first player signed by a new club—and finally the
Boston Reds (1884), whom he also managed.
During eight seasons in the major leagues Murnane
batted .261 with five
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s and 127
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
. 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
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...
), Rochester, and Albany, before retiring "to open a saloon and billard hall in Boston".
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 George Wright may refer to:
Politics, law and government
* George Wright (MP) (died 1557), MP for Bedford and Wallingford
* George Wright (governor) (1779–1842), Canadian politician, lieutenant governor of Prince Edward Island
* 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.
Later career
After his career in uniform, Murnane served as president of the minor league
New England League
The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...
and
Eastern League, and went on to a 30-year career as a sportswriter and baseball editor with ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''.
Death
Murnane died in 1917 at age 65 of a heart attack while attending the opera at the
Schubert Theatre in Boston. News reports said his death came only about 30 minutes after he had written his daily sports column for the Globe. He was originally buried in the Old Dorchester Burial Ground in
Dorchester. Hundreds attended Murnane’s funeral. The pallbearers included Boston mayor
James Michael Curley
James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston. He also served a single term as governor of Massachusetts, characterized ...
and Congressman
James A. Gallivan; former Red Sox owner
John I. Taylor was an usher. Many ballplayers attended, including
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
, then a pitcher for the Red Sox. Murnane's place of burial was later moved to the Old Calvary Cemetery in
Roslindale
Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan.
It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Orange Line in nearby J ...
.
Murnane had left little to care for his widow and four children from his second marriage, so the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
and the
Baseball Writers' Association of America
The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908, and is known ...
(BBWAA) established a memorial fund for his family and held a benefit game on September 27, 1917, at
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Bas ...
. The Red Sox, with Babe Ruth pitching, defeated an all-star team that include
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the ...
,
Tris Speaker
Tristram Edgar Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "the Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player. Considered one of the greatest players in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), he compiled a career ba ...
, and
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Joseph Jefferson Jackson (July 16, 1887 – December 5, 1951), nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American outfielder who played Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 1900s. Although his .356 career batting average is the fourth highest ...
in the outfield. More than 17,000 people attended, generating $13,000 for the Murnane family. The memorial fund purchased a gravestone for Murnane.
In 1946, the
Baseball Hall of Fame established the
Honor Rolls of Baseball
The Honor Rolls of Baseball were established in 1946 by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's Permanent Committee to establish as a second level of induction designed to recognize non-playing contributors.James, p. 46 The committee de ...
and named Murnane one of 12 writers to be honored. He was selected by the BBWAA as a recipient of the
J. G. Taylor Spink Award
The BBWAA Career Excellence Award, formerly the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, is the highest award given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). It is given "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing" and voted on annually by ...
for excellence in baseball journalism in 1978.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball player-managers
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Founded in 1869, it is composed of 30 teams. Each team in the league has a manager, who is responsible for team strategy and leadership on and off ...
Sources
*Eldred, Rich (1996). "Timothy Hayes Murnane". ''Baseball's First Stars''. Edited by Frederick Ivor-Campbell, et al. Cleveland, Ohio: SABR.
*Retrosheet
"Tim Murnane".Retrieved 2022-03-16.
References
Further reading
* Murnane, T. H. (1903)
''How to play base ball''. New York: American Sports Publishing Co.
*
*
External links
Baseball Hall of Fame – Spink Award recipient*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murnane, Tim
1851 births
1917 deaths
Baseball writers
Sportswriters from Massachusetts
Major League Baseball first basemen
Major League Baseball outfielders
19th-century baseball players
Middletown Mansfields players
Philadelphia Athletics (NA) players
Philadelphia White Stockings players
Boston Red Caps players
Providence Grays players
Boston Reds (UA) players
Boston Reds (UA) managers
Baseball players from Connecticut
College of the Holy Cross alumni
Capital City of Albany players
Rochester Hop Bitters players
Jersey City Skeeters players
Major League Baseball player-managers
BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients
People from Naugatuck, Connecticut
Sportspeople from New Haven County, Connecticut
The Boston Globe people