Joe Murphy

Born:
Died:
Goto Baseball-Reference.com for

Joseph Aiken Murphy was born in St. Louis on September 7, 1866, the second of five sons of Ann Arnot Murphy and Michael J. Murphy. Michael Murphy was a prominent businessman who held numerous civic posts for the city of St. Louis, including terms as the street commissioner, president of the Board of Education, and the harbor and wharf commissioner. Joe graduated from St. Louis University as valedictorian in 1884, and then he embarked on a career as an amateur sprinter, running 100 yard and 220 yard dashes. He once defeated US National Champion Malcolm Ford in a 100 yard race, with a time of 10 seconds on three watches (Murphy had a 3 1/2 yard handicap). He also pitched for a top St. Louis amateur club called the Prickly Ash and was a founding member of the Missouri Amateur Athletic Club (MAAC) in the spring of 1885. According to his obituary in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, during this period he also beat Billy Sunday in a race. Sunday was considered the fastest man in baseball at the time.

In April of 1886, the Cincinnati Red Stockings came to town for a series against the St. Louis Browns. They had with them their star pitcher, Tony Mullane, but there was a court injunction preventing Mullane from playing baseball in St. Louis dating back to the Union Association in 1884, when Mullane signed to play with the St. Louis Maroons (then in the Union Association), and then jumped to Toledo in the American Association after they offered him more money. Cincinnati was negotiating with Henry Lucas, owner of the Maroons (now in the National League in 1886), to have the injunction lifted, but no arrangement could be made in time for the series. The Red Stockings found themselves in need of a pitcher for the final game of the series, and they turned to Joe Murphy for the start on April 28, 1886. He pitched well; he held the Browns to only three runs through nine innings before allowing four runs in the tenth to lose the game. The Reds were so impressed that they attempted to sign Murphy to a contract. He declined, wishing to preserve his amateur status. Despite not having a contract of any sort for 1886, however, Joe Murphy managed to pitch in five games for the Red Stockings, one game for the Browns, and four games for the Maroons. He went 3-7 with a 6.07 ERA for the three teams combined.

Prior to the start of the season in 1887, multiple teams sought to sign him (seventeen teams, according to the Post-Dispatch on March 6, 1887), but he continued to decline the offers. He pitched in one game in 1887, on August 19, for the St. Louis Browns as a fill-in when the Browns were short-handed due to injuries and absences. He also continued to race (including a record-tying time of 10 seconds for the 100 yard dash at an MAAC meet in July) and to pitch for the Prickly Ash. In July of 1887, he became the Sports Editor for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Going into the 1888 season, some reports indicated Murphy would be pitching for the Browns that season. He appeared in one game on March 29 for the Browns in Spring Training against the St. Louis Whites under the name "Ashland". He also pitched against the Whites in a spring training game for the Prickley Ash, for whom he continued to pitch during the summer of 1888. However, he would only agree to pitch for the Browns without signing a formal contract so as to preserve his amateur status, and Von der Ahe balked at this plan, so he remained unsigned.

On May 27 the St. Louis Whites played a double header against Omaha in St. Louis, with one of the two games having been moved up from May 28 so both teams could travel one day earlier. Fred Nyce and Harry Staley, the only two pitchers on the Whites roster for most of the month, had been alternating starts and Nyce had pitched the day before. The Whites started a pitcher named "Hughes" in Game 1 of the double header, with Staley starting the second game. According to the St. Louis papers, Hughes was "a well-known local pitcher". The Omaha Daily Bee identified Hughes as Murphy the sporting editor for the Globe-Democrat.

Just under a month later, the Whites limped home from their final, disastrous road trip (a 3-14 record, including losing the final eight games across three cities) with only Nyce on the roster as a pitcher, Staley having been sold the day before. Nyce hadn't pitched in a few days, but he had pitched four of the previous eight games and played in seven of them. In the club's first game back in St. Louis, on June 20, "Farquhar" started for the Whites. The Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Chicago Tribune both identified Farquhar as Joe Murphy. The Whites lost 8-7, with only two of the eight runs allowed by Murphy being earned. (Jake Kenyon dropped three fly balls in the second, resulting in 4 runs.) The Whites left the bases loaded in the ninth with the last two batters striking out on six called strikes, five of which were reportedly outside the strike zone. The two starts for the Whites were the last professional games for Joe Murphy. He started a charity game on June 24 for the MAAC against the remains of the St. Louis Whites, the day after the club was formally disbanded, which the MAAC team lost 7-5.

Given that Murphy had played major league games in each of the two previous seasons under his own name, why was he listed under false names for those three games (including the spring game for the Browns) in 1888? The answer most likely lies in his desire to remain an amateur. In early 1887, there was an article in the Post-Dispatch questioning his amateur status because he was playing professional baseball. While he pitched in ten professional games in 1886, he only pitched in one the following season. It is possible that by 1888 he was being cautious about publicizing that he was pitching in professional games, even if he wasn't formally signed and they were minor league games. (It is also possible that due to his job as Sporting Editor for the Globe-Democrat it was inappropriate to advertise that he was pitching in games he was reporting on.)

In the spring of 1889, he played in several spring training games for the MAAC against the Browns. On April 14 he was hurt during an MAAC game in Evansville, Indiana. The Globe-Democrat reported a couple of months later that the injury was forcing him to retire from all athletics. However, in September of 1889, he competed in the 100 yard dash in an event in St. Louis; he finished only second in his heat at just over 11 seconds. It does not seem like he raced again after that race, likely because of other events in his life at that time.

On September 16, 1889, a notice of his engagement to society belle Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Van Phul was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Lizzie was described by the Post-Dispatch as "the very charming, accomplished daughter of one of the old French families of the Southern aristocracy" (November 19, 1890). Her grandfather, Henry Von Phul, was born in Philadelphia in 1784 and came to St. Louis in 1811 by way of Kentucky. He established a trading post, married Rosalie Saugrainin 1816, and they had fifteen children, one of whom was Frederick, Lizzie's father. A sister of Henry, Anna von Phul, came to St. Louis in 1817 for a visit and moved to St. Louis for good in 1820. Anna's watercolors and sketch books of scenes of St. Louis and its surroundings from 1817 to 1821 now are the property of the Missouri Historical Society. (Anna died in 1823.) When Henry settled in St. Louis and established his business, the town had under 2000 residents. As the city grew, he built his business and became a leading member of the community. By the 1870 census St. Louis had over 310,000 residents as was the fourth largest city in America. Henry Phul, who died in 1874, was a large part of that growth.

So on September 16, the Post-Dispatch published notice of the upcoming marriage in November of Lizze Von Phul and Joe Murphy. In the evening edition of the September 17 Post-Dispatch, the front page headline read "Murder at Daly's. The Tragic Ending of a Brutal Prize Fight This Morning." Murphy was the referee for this prize match the Daly Bros Saloon, where 18 year-old Thomas Jackson was beaten to death during the match by Ed Ahearn. Ahearn was charged with manslaughter in the second degree, while Murphy and several others involved in organizing and running the fight were charged as accessories. There were hearings in December of 1889. Murphy and the other participants were indicted in February of 1890. Both the Post-Dispatch and the Globe-Democrat reported a trial date of January 22, 1891, but nothing was published about the outcome at that time. An article discussing another charge against Ahearn in 1899 indicates he (Ahearn) was acquitted of charges in the Jackson case, so one assumes Murphy and the others were acquitted as well.

Murphy was replaced as Sports Editor of the Globe-Democrat in February of 1890. He moved to Chicago to become a sports reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where he later became Sports Editor. He also became secretary of the Harlem Race Track while in Chicago, launching a 40+ year career as a horse racing official. He returned to St. Louis in the mid 1890s and was elected to the same position for the St. Louis Fair Association in 1897. He was active as a judge for racetracks around the country for the next 40 years, becoming one of the most respected judges in the country.

Joe and Lizzie were married on November 27, 1889, and they were married for more than 60 years. They had two daughters – Lucile in 1890 and Dorothy in 1894. After more than 40 years working in the horse racing industry, Joe and Lizzie retired to Florida in 1937. Lizzie died February 18, 1951. Joseph died just two months later, on March 28, 1951. He was the last surviving member of the St. Louis Whites.