Danny Murphy was born on August 11, 1876, in Philadelphia, PA. His family relocated to Fall River, Massachusetts, an industrial mill town, when Danny was a small boy. Endowed with natural athletic ability, Danny showcased his physical skills on the baseball diamond when he began playing for the baseball team sponsored by the mill where he was employed in 1897.
Two years later he secured a spot on the roster of a semi-pro team in nearby North Attleboro where he excelled as a hitter. During the spring of 1900, Murphy joined the Norwich Witches, a minor league baseball team as a second baseman in the Connecticut League. The following year with the Witches he led the league with 32 doubles, 16 triples, and 12 home runs with a batting average of .336. Murphy started the 1902 season continuing to hit at a torrid pace, with a batting average of .462 during the first six weeks of league play. By this time his hitting prowess had come to the attention of Connie Mack, manager of the major league Philadelphia Athletics. The future legendary manager offered Murphy a spot on the starting roster of the Athletics signing him to a $600 contract on July 2, 1902. Six days later, during his first major league game against the Boston Americans, he had a spectacular six hits including an inside-the-park home run off of the pitcher Cy Young.
In August of 1902, Danny married his girlfriend and Norwich resident 17 year-old Catherine Moriarity, an employee at a local textile mill. This was also the beginning of the lifelong mutual bond between Danny Murphy and the city of Norwich, where he and his wife resided on Spring Street.
During the next three seasons, Murphy continued to impress his manager, teammates, and opposing teams as a tenacious hitter and a reliable infielder. Under Mack’s tutelage and management, the performance of the whole team improved resulting in the Athletics capturing the American League pennant in 1905. In 1908, Mack made a pivotal decision that rearranged the fortunes of the entire team. He moved Murphy to the right fielder position replacing him with the recently acquired hard-hitting twenty-year-old Eddie Collins at second base. The power-slugging duo of Collins and Murphy propelled the Athletics to back-to-back World Series championships in 1910 and 1911. Murphy enjoyed his finest year in the major leagues in 1911 with a season batting average of .329 with 44 extra-base hits and 66 runs batted in.
The bright prospects for the 1912 season for the 35 year-old Murphy and his team began to unravel when Murphy broke his kneecap during the opening month of the season. The absence of their most reliable hitter from Philadephia’s lineup was most likely the primary reason the Athletics did not win the American League pennant that year. Due to age and the knee injury, Murphy was visibly not the same dynamic ballplayer during the 1913 season. He played in only 65 games in a limited role as a pinch hitter. The Athletics did win the pennant and the World Series in 1913 but Murphy was on the bench for all of the postseason games. Murphy was released from the Athletics team in March 1914. He played briefly for the Baltimore Tip-Tops of the rival Federal League before retiring from baseball. He returned to the Athletics as a successful base coach from 1920-1925. Danny Murphy died in November 1955 after a prolonged illness. He is buried next to his wife in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Norwich.
To view photos from Danny Murphy’s phenomenal baseball career, visit the historical photos on Otis Library’s website and Flickr.