WASHINGTON — Curses are a silly thing that no rational, adult human being should believe to be true. That being said, there is perhaps no curse with as strong an evidentiary chain as the one that haunts the Chicago Cubs. And if that curse had a name, it would be “Murphy.”
Behold …
(AP/Elsa Garrison)
All of the Murphys
While Diamond admits his tweet is all in good fun, he does, after all, cover the Mets for The Wall Street Journal, and if we’ve learned anything from Mets beat writers this year, it’s that impartiality is not guaranteed. Anyway, let’s unpack the history of the Murphy curse while there’s still time for the Cubs to salvage Back to the Future II’s prediction.
(AP Photo/Elsa Garrison, Pool)
(AP/Elsa Garrison)
The Curse of Murphy
The reason we’re talking about the name Murphy in the first place is the origin of the Cubs’ curse from 1945. Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis was asked to leave a World Series game at Wrigley Field after bringing his pet goat, prompting him to send a telegram to Philip K. Wrigley reading “You are going to lose this World Series and you are never going to win another World Series again.” The Cubs have not been back to a World Series since.
This is Sam Sianis, Billy’s nephew and later owner of the bar, seen with a different goat in 1984, unsuccessfully attempting to make amends.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
Baseball Murphys
According to Baseball Reference, there have been 43 players with the name Murphy in MLB history, including one known simply as Murphy, who played a single game for the Boston Reds of the Union Association in 1884. Perhaps the most famous Murphy, Dale of the Atlanta Braves, batted .304 with a .367 lifetime on-base percentage against the Cubs, the highest such marks against any opponent in his career. While this is interesting for the minutiae-minded baseball folks, it seems insignificant compared to the other Murphys in the baseball registry.
(AP Photo/Roger Grigg)
AP Photo/Roger Grigg
The History of Daniel Murphy
In 1910, the Philadelphia Athletics squared off with the Cubs in Chicago’s first World Series appearance since 1908, the last time they won a title. Despite a second straight 104-win season, the Cubs were handled in just five games. Philadelphia’s star outfielder led the Athletics to victory, batting .400 with a series-high nine RBI over the five games, including the only home run by either club.
His name? Daniel Francis Murphy. He’s the one in the middle, grinning.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
The Cubs’ Daniel Murphy
There have only been two players named Murphy ever to play for the Cubs: Donnie Murphy (pictured) in 2013, and, yes, Danny Murphy from 1960-62 and 1969-70. The latter Murphy was something of a reverse Rick Ankiel, playing as an outfielder as a teenager, but lasting only parts of three seasons, over which he batted just .171. He returned as a pitcher and had some success out of the bullpen in his first year (2.01 ERA), but really struggled in his second and final season on the mound, walking more batters than he struck out and allowing 11 home runs in 80.2 innings.
It seems that even when playing for the Cubs, the Murphys of the world aren’t able to help.
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Daniel Murphy and the Draft
Murphy was selected by the Mets out of Jacksonville University in the 13th round of the 2006 MLB Draft. Only five players the Cubs selected that year ever even played in the Major Leagues, combining for just 8.1 career Wins Above Replacement (with Jeff Samardzija accounting for 7.3 of that total), fewer than Murphy’s 12.5 WAR. Not a single player from that 2006 Chicago draft is even a part of the organization anymore.
(AP Photo/Todd Bennett)
AP Photo/Todd Bennett
‘Shipping Up to Boston’
Murphy uses the song “Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys (get it?) as his walk-up song. He is hardly the only player to use the song, which was popularized by Jonathan Papelbon in 2007, when he helped the Red Sox win the World Series, later riding along with the band during the parade through Boston.
However, when Papelbon signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies following the 2011 season, the band retracted its offer to let him use the song. That was the same time that then-Red Sox GM Theo Epstein left Boston to become the President of, yes, the Chicago Cubs.
(AP Photo/Todd Bennett)
