George Murray (baseball)

Infobox MLB retired
name = George Murray
bgcolor1 = #dcdcdc
bgcolor2 = #dcdcdc
textcolor1 = black
textcolor2 = black


width = 150
caption = "Smiler"
position = Pitcher
birthdate = September 23, 1898
deathdate = October 18, 1955
bats = Right
throws = Right
debutdate = May 8
debutyear = by|1922
debutteam = New York Yankees
finaldate = May 1
finalyear = by|1933
finalteam = Chicago White Sox
stat1label = W - L
stat1value = 20-26
stat2label = K
stat2value = 114
stat3label = ERA
stat3value = 5.38
teams =
* New York Yankees (by|1922)
* Boston Red Sox (by|1923 – by|1924)
* Washington Senators (by|1926 – by|1927)
* Chicago White Sox (by|1933)
highlights =
hofdate =
hofvote =
hofmethod =

George King "Smiler" Murray (September 23, 1898 – October 18, 1955) was a baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, and Chicago White Sox. [cite web |url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/murrage01.shtml |title=George Murray Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com|author=Baseball-Reference.com |accessdate=2007-12-28 |format= |work= ]

Biography

Murray was born on September 23, 1898, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He went to North Carolina State University. In by|1922, when he was 23, he broke into the Major Leagues on May 8 with the New York Yankees. [cite web |url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=murrage01 |title=George Murray Baseball Stats by Baseball Almanac|author=Baseball Almanac |accessdate=2007-12-28 |format= |work= ] He was mainly a relief pitcher, although started two games (out of 22 pitched in all). He was 4-2 with a 3.97 ERA.

The next two years Murray spent with the Boston Red Sox On January 30, 1923, Murray was traded to the Red Sox with Camp Skinner and Norm McMillan for star pitcher Herb Pennock and $50,000. [cite web |url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/trades.php?p=murrage01 |title=George Murray Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac|author=Baseball Almanac |accessdate=2007-12-28 |format= |work= ] In by|1923, nearly half of the games he pitched in he started; however, he did worse than he did the year before, going 7-11 with a 4.91 earned run average. His seven wins that season were a career high, though. [cite web |url=http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=George_Murray_1898 |title=The Ballplayers - George Murray|author=BaseballLibrary.com |accessdate=2008-02-17 |format= |work= ]

In 1924, Murray went back to mainly relief pitching, and did even worse than he did the previous two years. He finished with a record of 2-9 and an earned run average of 6.72; he had one of the worst seasons out of all of the pitchers on the team.

That was the final year he played with the Red Sox. He did not play at all in by|1925, and went with the Washington Senators in 1926. He was converted to a starting pitcher, didn't pitch as much, but still had the second best season of his career (behind his rookie season). He finished at 6-3 with a mediocre 5.63 ERA. In twelve games pitched he only gave up one home run, very good for a pitcher.

Murray pitched 1927 with the Senators as well. His amount of pitching time continued to decline, and it turned out that 1926 was his final season as a starting pitcher; 1927 was spent as a little-used relief man.

Murray did not pitch at all for the next five years. He made a comeback with the Chicago White Sox in 1933, but only pitched two games. His final game was played May 1 of that year, and at age 34, that marked the end of his Major League career.

After that, Murray had just 22 more years to live. He died on October 18, 1955, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was buried in Brownsville, Tennessee.

References