Tim Murnane

Infobox MLB retired
name=Tim Murnane


position=First Baseman/Outfielder
birthdate =birth date|1852|6|4
city-state|Naugatuck|Connecticut
deathdate =death date and age|1917|2|7|1852|6|4
city-state|Boston|Massachusetts
bats=Left
throws=Right
debutdate=April 22
debutyear=by|1876
debutteam=Boston Red Caps
finaldate=October 19
finalyear=by|1884
finalteam=Boston Reds
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.258
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=244
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=63
teams=
* Middletown Mansfields (by|1872)
* Athletic of Philadelphia (by|1873-by|1874)
* Boston Red Caps (by|1876-by|1877)
* Providence Grays (by|1878)
* Boston Reds (by|1884)
highlights=

Timothy Hayes Murnane (June 4 1852 - February 7 1917) was an American sportswriter specializing in baseball, regarded as 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, and played 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 by|1869. He remained at catcher for two seasons with Savannah, but moved to center field while with the Middletown Mansfields club of Middletown, Connecticut, halfway through the by|1871 season. The Mansfields entered the professional National Association for by|1872, which begins Murnane's major league career in records that count the NA as a major league. [For those who do not count the NA, he recorded the first stolen base in major league history, with Boston in 1876] 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 the 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 by|1978.

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. [http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Pmurnt101.htm "Tim Murnane".] Retrieved 2006-09-05.

External links

* [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/spink_bios/murnane_tim.htm Baseball Hall of Fame - Spink Award recipient]