Atlanta Braves Flashback: My Darkest Day as a Braves Fan

What Else to Expect?

I wept. I mean, I really, REALLY wept; for 3 days. Why 3 days you ask? Murph wore #3. I think I went through every stage of grief in those 3 days. Denial, anger, guilt … all of them. Posters came off the walls. Pennants were ripped down from their pegs. I was angry at the Braves. I had renounced “America’s Team”. I hurt for Murph. The man who had given all he had to the Braves for so long, sent him packing to the Philadelphia Phillies. As a fan of the Braves, and an even bigger fan of Murph, I was crushed.

What hurt even more, was that the following season, in 1991, the Braves would reach the World Series for the first time since 1958, before moving to Atlanta in 1966. I felt so bad for Murph that he didn’t get that experience.

Then, in 1993, he signed with the expansion Colorado Rockies. As fate would have it, Philly would reach the World Series that year. Murphy just couldn’t catch a break. He retired May 21st, 1993, less than 45 games into the 1993 season, 2 home runs shy of 400.

As a kid, you never want to see your childhood hero change teams, especially after such a long and successful tenure with your favorite team. I felt like, on the day he retired, I retired with him. Who was I going to cheer for now? Who was I going to look up to? Fortunately, it wouldn’t take me too long (after the appropriate time for grieving was concluded, of course) to find a new favorite player in Tom Glavine. But this is about Dale Murphy, not Glavine.

Time Capsules

Fast forward to 2011. I myself am now in the Army, living at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. A little wiser, with a better understanding of the business side of the game, and still, always a Murphy fan, even though he hadn’t played in decades.  Still a Braves fan, even though they sent my beloved Dale Murphy to the Phillies.

Technology has obviously, since the early 1990’s, taken off. Blogging was at its height. Twitter was taking off and Facebook was where it was at. So, it was no shock when I stumbled on the website, dalemurphy.com. It was here, that I learned, as Murphy says, “the rest of the story”.

I had long ago accepted the Murphy trade. I was at peace with it, even though he never got into the Hall of Fame (which is still a massive injustice if you ask me). But it was here, on Murph’s blog, that I learned the truth of my darkest day.

Murphy goes into great detail how that trade happened. I honestly never thought I could respect this man anymore. He was always a testament and living example of how a human being should act and carry himself.

Joe Torre once said of Murphy that “If you’re a coach, you want him as a player, If you’re a father, you want him as a son. If you’re a woman, you want him as a husband. If you’re a kid, you want him as a father. What else can you say about the guy”? Well, to answer Joe’s question, you can’t, or at least I thought.

Then, I read this:

"“The basic point I want to make here is that I actually initiated the trade—not the Braves.” – Dale Murphy"

My jaw hit the floor.