(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Fotopersbureau De Boer (Poppe de Boer)/Noord-Hollands Archief & Henk Seppen)
 Former Netherlands Team Manager Pat Murphy National League Manager of the Year
Nederlands
  NEW YORK, New York / MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (USA) -
Pat Murphy, who had a successful season in his first year as Manager of Milwaukee Brewers, was voted Manager of the Year in the National League on Tuesday (November 19).
Murphy is the first Milwaukee Manager in history to win the Award.
Stephen Vogt of Cleveland Guardians won the Award in the American League.
Like Murphy, Vogt was in his first full season as Major League Manager.
Pat Murphy also has a successfful connection with Dutch baseball, as he was the Manager of the Netherlands National Baseball Team in two different periods.
In 1987, at age 28, Murphy became one of the youngest Managers ever to lead the Netherlands Team when he was named the successor of fellow-American Harvey Shapiro.
Murphy immediately was embraced by players, spectators and media because of his enthousiastic and passionate way of coaching.
He also was liked very much for the way he stimulated his players and his interaction with them.
During his first tenure of leading the Orange-squad, Murphy right away showed his talent of bringing out the best of his players.
In 1987, Murphy first led the Orange-team during the second edition of the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands), where the team finished in third place.
A few days later, the team traveled to Barcelona (Spain) for the European Championship.
There, the team played a strong tournament, showed offensive power and won seven of the nine games played, including the most important one.
Back then, the Championship was decided via a best-of-five between the two best teams.
The Netherlands won the first two games against Italy (7-6, 7-4), but then lost the next two (13-4, 5-4).
But in the deciding fifth game, the Netherlands left no doubt and recorded a convincing 16-1 mercy-rule win in 6½ inning.
With that, the Netherlands not only captured the European Championship-title, but also qualified for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul (South Korea).
In Rotterdam and Barcelona, Murphy was assisted by Harry van der Vaart and Leen Volkerijk (Pitching Coach), while Maarten Koper was the Physical Therapist.
Amongst the players on the Orange-roster were two future Major League-players, outfielder Rikkert Faneyte and short stop Robert Eenhoorn.
The latter also would become Netherlands Team Manager.
However, Pat Murphy was unable to return to the team for the Olympics, due to commitments with the University of Notre Dame.
In July 1987, while he was with the Netherlands-squad during the World Port Tournament, Murphy was appointed as new Head Coach of the baseball-team of Notre Dame.
Murphy would lead the Fighting Irish in seven seasons (1988-1994).
In that span, Murphy turned the team in a successful one.
Notre Dame won 318 games and lost 116.
His .732 winning percentage was the highest in school-history since Tommy Mills compiled a .737 average with a 57-20 record in 1927-1929.
Murphy led the team to three consecutive NCAA Regional Finals (1992, 1993, 1994).
In 2010, during renovations of Notre Dame's home-site Frank Eck Baseball Stadium, the Coach Pat Murphy Locker Room was added.
...Pat Murphy as Manager of the Netherlands Baseball...
...Team in 2000 during preparations for the...
...Haarlem Baseball Week in Haarlem (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Noord-Hollands Archief/
Fotopersbureau De Boer (Poppe de Boer)) |
Before joining the Netherlands, Murphy had been the Head Baseball Coach and Assistant Football Coach of the Fighting Scots, the teams of Maryville College in 1983.
Next, he had the same two positions in 1985 for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the intercollegiate sports program of Claremont McKena College, Harvey Mudd College and Scripps College, all located in Claremont, California, whose athletic teams are nicknamed Stags.
As California Stags, the team participated three times in the Haarlem Baseball Week (1966, 1969, 1971) in Haarlem (Netherlands), led by legendary Coach Bill Arce.
It was Arce who suggested Murphy to the Dutch Federation for the position of Manager in early 1987.
After his successful stint with Notre Dame, in 1995 Pat Murphy was named new Head Coach of Sun Devils, the baseball-team of Arizona State University.
Murphy led the team to Pac-10 Conference-titles in 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2009 and four times to the College World Series.
In 15 seasons (1995-2009), Murphy's teams won 629 games and lost 284.
His teams set an NCAA-record of not being shutout in 506 consecutive games (1995-2004).
In 1998, Murphy became the youngest collegiate coach to reach 500 career wins.
He was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year four times.
After Murphy was unavailable for 1988, he was succeeded by veteran American college-coach Tom Petroff, who led the Orange-squad not only during the Olympic Games in South Korea that year, but also during the Haarlem Baseball Week and the World Championship in Italy.
In 2000, Pat Murphy did get another opportunity to lead the Netherlands during an Olympic Games.
Early that year, he was named the new Manager as the successor of Jan Dick Leurs, who had led the Orange-squad for eight years (1992-1999).
In 2000, Murphy's Dutch Team finished third in the Haarlem Baseball Week.
In September of that year, the team participated in the Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia).
During the event, three of the seven games were won, including a spectacular win against Cuba, which back then was a dominating team and the reigning Olympic and World Champion.
The Netherlands won 4-2 and handed Cuba its first-ever Olympic loss.
In 2000, Murphy was assisted by Charles Urbanus (Bench), Brian Farley (1B) and Bernie Beckman (Pitching), while Maarten Koper (Physical Therapist), Frank Nusse (Team Doctor), Cees Herkemij (Business Manager Haarlem Baseball Week), Kees Sleegers (Business Manager Olympics) and Frans Bergman (Equipment Manager) formed the Supporting Staff.
Like in 1987, Robert Eenhoorn and Rikkert Faneyte played for the team in 2000, this time as former Major Leaguers.
There were two other former Major Leaguers on the roster, being infielder Ralph Milliard and outfielder Hensley Meulens, who delivered the deciding double in the game against Cuba.
Eenhoorn and Meulens both would become Manager of the Netherlands Team, as was infielder Evert-Jan 't Hoen, who also was part of the team.
Eenhoorn succeeded Murphy in 2001, 't Hoen is the current Orange-Manager.
Meulens led the Netherlands during three World Baseball Classics, reaching the Semi-Final twice.
As Major League Coach of San Francisco Giants (Hitting, Bench, 2010-2019), Meulens won three World Series.
Since 2023, Meulens is the Hitting Coach of Colorado Rockies.
...Pat Murphy with Robert Eenhoorn (left) and Hensley...
...Meulens before an exhibition game of the...
...Netherlands Team against San Diego Padres in...
...Peoria, Arizona (USA) ahead of the Ffinal Round...
...of the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Since 2010, Pat Murphy is active in Major League Baseball.
In February of that year, he was named Special Assistant for Baseball Operations at San Diego Padres.
In 2011-2012, Murphy was Manager of the Padres-team in Single-A and in 2013-2015, he led the Triple-A team.
In June 2015, Murphy was named Interim Manager of the Padres Major League-team when Manager Bud Black was fired.
Murphy led the team in 96 games (42 wins).
After the 2015 season, Murphy was named Bench Coach of Milwaukee Brewers in the staff of Manager Craig Counsell, who was a player of Notre Dame when Murphy was the Head Coach there.
Murphy was Bench Coach in 2016-2023.
In June 2023, he filled in one game as Manager (8-6 win).
After the 2023 season, Counsell became the new Manager of Chicago Cubs.
In November of that year, Murphy was promoted and was named new Manager of Milwaukee as the successor of Counsell.
Before the 2024 season, many believed the Milwaukee Brewers would play a secondary role in the Central Division of the National League.
Many analysts based that theory on the departure of Counsell, the limited managerial experience in the Majors of Murphy and the loss of some important players.
But Murphy did a remarkable job in his first full season n which he also was confronted with some injuries.
In September, Milwaukee Brewers was the first team to secure a spot in the postseason by becoming Division-champion.
Milwaukee had the fourth-best record overall (93-69) and with that, the team had to play in the Wild Card Series against New York Mets, which won the best-of-three.
And now, after the season, Pat Murphy has won the National League Manager of the Year Award.
Murphy, who will turn 66 later this month, received 27 of the 30 first place votes and three for second place for a total of 144 points.
Finishing in second place was Mike Shildt (San Diego Padres), who got 70 points.
Carlos Mendoza (New York Mets) was third with 35 points.
Murphy is the first Milwaukee Manager to win the Award.
Former Milwaukee Manager Craig Counsell finished second four times (2018, 2019, 2021, 2023).
Stephen Vogt led Cleveland Guardians to the title in the American League Central Division in his first season after having succeeded Terry Francona.
In the American League Division Series, Cleveland won against Detroit Tigers in five games to advance to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2016.
In the ALCS, Cleveland was eliminated by New York Yankees in five games.
Like Murphy, Vogt received 27 first-place votes to win the American League Manager of the Year Award with 142 points.
Matt Quatraro (Kansas City Royals) finished second (73 points), A.J. Hinch (Detroit Tigers) was third (41 points).
(November 19)
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