One of the great things about the game of baseball is that the hero-factor is more dynamic than in any other sport. From Francisco Cabrera in game seven of the 1992 NLCS to David Freese in the 2011 World Series, any player given the opportunity can grace the grandest of stages and propel themselves from obscurity to Fall Classic star.
Daniel Murphy has landed himself in that category during this postseason after hitting .421 with a 1.462 OPS, with eleven RBI and seven home runs, including one in each of his last six postseason games, an MLB record. However, Murphy shouldn’t be looked at as the obscure position player now playing man-of-the-hour for the New York Mets. Rather, the second baseman has been one of the most consistent players in Major League Baseball and a true leader in the Mets clubhouse.
Murphy has only one All-Star appearance and hasn’t come close to winning an MVP award, but since joining the Mets in 2008, he has hit .288/.331/.424 in 903 games, averaging 142 games a season since his rookie year and never having more than ninety-five strikeouts in a season. He has played multiple positions in his career with New York, giving up his natural position at third base to play second, first, and left field.
He began his career in New York as little more than a consistent starting lineup fixture for the Mets. However, in 2013, his name began to garner more recognition, when he finished in the top-ten in the National League in games played (161), plate appearances (697), runs scored (92), total bases (273), doubles (38), and stolen bases (23), and finishing top-three in at-bats (658), hits (188), singles (122), and putouts at second base (263). He finished first in the league in stolen base percentage at 88.46%. In the 2015 regular season, he finished fifth in doubles (38), eighth in intentional walks (10), and first in the NL in at-bats per strikeout at 13.1.
To go along with his steady numbers at the plate, Murphy has been, alongside future Mets Hall-of-Famer David Wright, the leader of the Mets clubhouse. In 2013 and 2014, he was the Mets recipient of the MLBPA Heart and Hustle Award, voted on by MLB players and alumni, presented to the player who best embodies the values, spirit and traditions of the game. With the turnout of free-agent players who have came to play in New York, Murphy has always been a player to count on for Mets fans and manager Terry Collins.
In fact, Murphy has been the most consistent player to wear the Mets uniform since Collins became manager in 2010, with more at-bats, hits, and doubles than any Met player in that span. Wright may be the official captain of the World Series hopefuls but, as Wright missed most of the regular season, Murphy was the team leader in the 2nd half of the regular season, where the Mets were the best team in the National League. His red-hot postseason play has driven the New York to a 7-1 record, an NL pennant, and an opportunity to win their first World Series since 1986. Nobody can doubt the impact of Murphy for this franchise and their raucous fan base.
The pressures of playing in a media market like New York and for a team that hadn’t won a division title since 2006 hasn’t fazed Murphy, who has been exceptional at one of the more looked over facets of the game: coming to the ballpark day-in and day-out and producing for his team, his city, and his fans. Murphy may be a star now after his stellar postseason performance, but he should be seen as one of baseball’s true competitors and a role model for anyone who wants to understand what baseball truly means. He’s become a postseason hero no matter what becomes of the Mets in the next ten days, but to Mets fans, to his manager Terry Collins, to his teammates, and to this game, he’s already encompassed what a hero sincerely is.
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