Most Mets fans remember the colorful voice of legendary announcer Bob Murphy. Murphy, who would be 88 today if he were still alive, was one of the original New York Mets broadcasters in 1962, remaining the lead radio voice until September of 2003. He retired after the 2003 season. One thing I remember is how little it was reported when Murph died the next summer, August 4, 2004. Of course, Gary Cohen and Howie Rose spent some time remembering their times with him, but I don't think it got the national attention it deserved.
As the Mets are playing out the string of another forgetable season, think no further than Bob Murphy calling the Mets games with the same tone whether they won or lost. Yes, he'd throw out the "Happy Recap" after every win and just "recap" after a loss, but his mood never changed during a broadcast or a long season. I am not old enough to recall watching or listening to Murph call games in the early 1960s when the team was worse than ever, but remembering his tone in the early 1990s made the games enjoyable to listen to. I would tend to forget the place in the standings and exactly how bad the Mets were from 1992-1995. Even the Mets of 2003 did not seem as bad as they were listening to him.
That takes us to the state of the team right now. I'm sure if Bob Murphy was still broadcasting the games today, even he'd be disappointed in effort that the team is showing when they are at bat. He'd definitely make the listener feel comfortable, but even he would be upset with this. I bet he'd handle it well though. This is the same man who broadcasted the 1962 Mets, a team that finished last every year through 1967, the Mets of the late 1970s and early 1980s and the later teams I mentioned earlier. Would this team bother him, or would it just be recapped in another edition of Mets Yearbook? I think the latter.
Though Mets fans have been blessed with a great TV broadcasting team of Cohen and former Mets Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling (and Bob Ojeda doing pre and post games), and Rose and Josh Lewin on radio, its hard not to miss the classic calls of Murphy. His call of the ball going through Bill Buckner's legs in 1986 and his Lenny Dykstra HR call over the Astros in the NLCS in the same year were two of my favorites. I remember sitting at home listening to the 1990 Mets/ Phillies game, the one that the Mets had leads of 9-0 and 10-3 (going into the 9th inning). I also remember it was Darling who was one of the relief pitchers in the game for the Mets. The Phillies had come back to make it 10-9 and had the tying and go-ahead runs on base. His call became one of his trademarks: "Here's the pitch on the way. Line drive -- caught! The game is over! The Mets win it! A line drive to Mario Diaz and the Mets win the ballgame! They win the damn thing by a score of 10 to 9!"
Times like this make you miss his calls and the whole way he went about it. Some of us used Bob Murphy's birthday (September 19th) as a reminder that the season was almost over. At least some friends that watched the Mets in the early 1960s and late 1970s. Its amazing that its been over eight years that Bob Murphy has been gone.
That takes us to the state of the team right now. I'm sure if Bob Murphy was still broadcasting the games today, even he'd be disappointed in effort that the team is showing when they are at bat. He'd definitely make the listener feel comfortable, but even he would be upset with this. I bet he'd handle it well though. This is the same man who broadcasted the 1962 Mets, a team that finished last every year through 1967, the Mets of the late 1970s and early 1980s and the later teams I mentioned earlier. Would this team bother him, or would it just be recapped in another edition of Mets Yearbook? I think the latter.
Though Mets fans have been blessed with a great TV broadcasting team of Cohen and former Mets Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling (and Bob Ojeda doing pre and post games), and Rose and Josh Lewin on radio, its hard not to miss the classic calls of Murphy. His call of the ball going through Bill Buckner's legs in 1986 and his Lenny Dykstra HR call over the Astros in the NLCS in the same year were two of my favorites. I remember sitting at home listening to the 1990 Mets/ Phillies game, the one that the Mets had leads of 9-0 and 10-3 (going into the 9th inning). I also remember it was Darling who was one of the relief pitchers in the game for the Mets. The Phillies had come back to make it 10-9 and had the tying and go-ahead runs on base. His call became one of his trademarks: "Here's the pitch on the way. Line drive -- caught! The game is over! The Mets win it! A line drive to Mario Diaz and the Mets win the ballgame! They win the damn thing by a score of 10 to 9!"
Times like this make you miss his calls and the whole way he went about it. Some of us used Bob Murphy's birthday (September 19th) as a reminder that the season was almost over. At least some friends that watched the Mets in the early 1960s and late 1970s. Its amazing that its been over eight years that Bob Murphy has been gone.
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