Johnny Murphy was a P who played for the New York Yankees from 1932, 1934-1943, 1946. Career stats: 93-53 record, 3.53 ERA, 358 strikeouts.
Late innings, bases getting crowded, and Joe McCarthy doesn't even look down the bench anymore. He just waves toward the bullpen, and out comes a lean right-hander with a curveball that dies at the knees. Lefty Gomez, asked once how long he figured on pitching, didn't talk about his arm or his age. "As long as Murphy's arm holds out," he said. That's what it meant to play behind Johnny Murphy in the 1930s -- the ace got the win, and the guy who actually finished the job walked back to the clubhouse largely unbothered by headlines.
Murphy pitched for the Yankees from 1932, 1934 to 1943, and again in 1946, going 93-53 with a 3.53 ERA and 104 saves -- a statistic that didn't even exist yet. He won six World Series rings. He was the first pitcher in major league history to reach 100 career saves. And by the time he was done, "Fireman" wasn't just his nickname -- it was a job description that hadn't existed in baseball before men like him invented it.
Fordham to the Bronx
Murphy grew up in New York City, pitched at Fordham Prep and then Fordham University, and set a school single-season ERA record (1.54) that stood for close to sixty years. The Yankees signed him in 1929. He debuted in the majors on May 19, 1932, got into two games, and got shipped right back to the Newark Bears -- the Yankees' top farm club and, by most accounts, one of the best minor league teams ever assembled. He spent all of 1933 there too, winning nine games and doing the unglamorous work of getting good enough that the big club couldn't send him down again.
In 1934, they couldn't. Murphy made the Yankees for good, split time between starting and relieving, and went 14-10 with a 3.12 ERA across 20 starts and 20 relief appearances -- a rotation that also had Red Ruffing at the top of it. Those 20 starts would stand as a career high -- and account for exactly half the starts he'd make in his life. McCarthy had seen enough. Before the 1935 season, he moved Murphy to the bullpen full-time. Murphy wasn't thrilled about it. He did it anyway.
The Fireman
The nickname came from what he did with a jam once he got there -- he put it out. McCarthy called him his "pennant insurance," which is as good a description of a 1930s relief ace as anyone ever wrote. Teammates got it too. Murphy also answered to "Grandma," a nickname baseball folklore usually blames on his rocking-chair windup. The more credible version, per historian Richard Tofel, traces it to 1935-37 teammate Pat Malone, who got tired of listening to Murphy gripe about hotel rooms and road meals. Both stories agree on one thing: nobody was calling him soft on the mound.
He made three straight All-Star teams from 1937 through 1939, one of nine Yankees on the 1939 squad -- a number that tells you everything about how stacked that roster was. His 19 saves in 1939 were the second-highest single-season total in baseball history at that point, trailing only Firpo Marberry's 22 with the 1926 Senators. He'd lead the American League in saves four separate times, back when nobody was keeping the stat on purpose.
| Yankees Record | 93-53 (.637) |
| Yankees ERA | 3.53 |
| Yankees Saves | 104 (of 107 career) |
| Innings Pitched | 990.1 |
| World Series Titles | 6 (1936-1939, 1941, 1943) |
| All-Star Selections | 3 (1937, 1938, 1939) |
| Postseason Record | 2-0, 4 saves, 1.10 ERA in 8 games |
| Career Milestone | First pitcher in MLB history to reach 100 saves |
The Peak, the War, and the Release
His best season came in 1941 -- 8-3, a 1.98 ERA, 15 saves, and a fifth World Series ring by year's end, won on a club anchored by Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak that same summer. Then, in April 1944, he put himself on the voluntarily retired list to do war work at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on the Manhattan Project. He missed 1944 and 1945 entirely. He came back in 1946 and went 4-2 with a 3.40 ERA -- one last useful season on a club that had already lost McCarthy to a mid-season resignation. New management took over that winter, and Murphy didn't survive the turnover. The Yankees released him. Boston signed him as a free agent that April. He pitched one final season in Fenway Park's bullpen, 2.80 ERA over 32 games, and the Red Sox let him go that October. Thirteen big-league seasons, one uniform switch, done.
After the Mound
Murphy didn't leave the game. Boston hired him as a scout in 1948, then made him farm director -- he ran the Red Sox's entire minor league system for thirteen years, until a September 1960 front-office shakeup (the same one that followed Ted Williams' retirement announcement) cost him that job too. The Mets picked him up as a chief scout in 1961, moved him to assistant GM, and named him general manager on December 27, 1967.
As GM, Murphy made his most consequential decision by refusing to make one. In the spring of 1969, Atlanta dangled slugger Joe Torre and wanted a package built around a hard-throwing, wild young Mets pitcher named Nolan Ryan. Murphy wouldn't meet the price. The Braves got Torre from St. Louis instead. The Mets kept Ryan, went on to win the 1969 World Series as the Miracle Mets, and Murphy got to watch it from the GM's box -- the same man who'd been finishing games in the Bronx three decades earlier, still in the business of protecting a bullpen arm right up to the end.
He didn't get much time to enjoy it. Three months after the parade, on December 30, 1969, Murphy suffered a heart attack at his home in Yonkers. He died at Roosevelt Hospital on January 14, 1970, at 61.
Signs with the Yankees
Fordham University's ERA record-holder signs a pro contract out of college.
Sticks for Good
After a two-game cup of coffee in 1932 and a full 1933 season at Newark, Murphy makes the Yankees roster to stay, splitting time between starting and relief.
Full-Time to the Bullpen
McCarthy moves Murphy to relief permanently, on a staff that leads the American League in ERA -- the role that becomes his legacy.
Four Straight Titles
Murphy becomes a three-time All-Star and one of the game's first relief specialists as the Yankees win four consecutive championships.
War Work at Oak Ridge
Murphy goes on the voluntarily retired list to work on the Manhattan Project, missing two full seasons.
Final Yankees Season
Murphy goes 4-2 in his last year in pinstripes before being released amid a front-office overhaul.
Named Mets GM
Murphy takes over as the third general manager in Mets history.
Miracle Mets
Murphy declines to trade Nolan Ryan for Joe Torre; the Mets win the World Series without making the deal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Johnny Murphy really one of baseball's first relief pitchers?
Yes. McCarthy moved him to the bullpen full-time before the 1935 season, and Murphy became the game's first true relief specialist, leading the American League in saves four times (retroactively counted) and finishing his career as the first pitcher in major league history to reach 100 career saves.
How many World Series did Johnny Murphy win with the Yankees?
Six -- 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, and 1943. He wasn't on the 1932 World Series roster, having already been optioned back to the minors after a brief May callup that year.
What happened to Johnny Murphy after he retired as a player?
He ran the Boston Red Sox's farm system for thirteen years, then joined the Mets front office in 1961. He became Mets general manager in December 1967 and held the job when the Miracle Mets won the 1969 World Series. He died of a heart attack three months later, on January 14, 1970.
Why was Johnny Murphy called 'Fireman' and 'Grandma'?
"Fireman" described exactly what he did -- entering games to put out other pitchers' jams, a role that gave the modern closer its name. "Grandma" is popularly blamed on a rocking-chair windup, though the more credible account traces it to a teammate's frustration with Murphy's fussiness about hotels and meals on the road.
Gomez got his wins. Murphy got the outs nobody remembers by name -- the eighth-inning jam in a pennant race, the ninth-inning popup with the tying run on deck, six championships' worth of innings where the box score says somebody else started the game. He built a role that didn't have a name yet, then spent three more decades in the game building rosters instead of protecting them. The Mets won it all in October 1969. Murphy didn't make it to spring training the following year.
Career Stats
Regular Season
| Year | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | H | ER | K | BB | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 38 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 72.1 | 65 | 27 | 24 | 18 | 3.36 | 1.15 |
| 1941 | 37 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 78.1 | 72 | 19 | 29 | 42 | 2.18 | 1.46 |
| 1942 | 34 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 62.2 | 77 | 26 | 27 | 24 | 3.73 | 1.61 |
| 1943 | 39 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 70.2 | 44 | 19 | 33 | 33 | 2.42 | 1.09 |
| 1946 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 47.0 | 42 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 3.26 | 1.32 |
| Career | 407 | 40 | 93 | 53 | 104 | 1061.1 | 1022 | 416 | 400 | 449 | 3.53 | 1.39 |
Career-best seasons highlighted in gold. Stats via Retrosheet.
Postseason
| Year | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | H | ER | K | BB | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | 1 | -- | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3.38 | -- |
| 1937 | 1 | -- | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0.00 | -- |
| 1938 | 1 | -- | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0.00 | -- |
| 1939 | 1 | -- | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2.70 | -- |
| 1941 | 2 | -- | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0.00 | -- |
| 1943 | 2 | -- | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0.00 | -- |
| Career | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 16.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 |