Murphy’s Law

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Every once in a while, it is good to be reminded that baseball is supposed to be fun. And this week was a good reminder of that.

The fans in Milwaukee are sure having fun as the Brewers won their ninth straight game, coming back from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Money Mets, 7-6 on Sunday at American Family Field before a jubilant sellout crowd of 33,700.

This was a wonderful reminder to David Stearns too that $339 million can be swept by a team that has been assembled for $113 million. Rookie Isaac Collins hit a walk-off home run against Edwin Diaz to lead off the ninth, sending the fans home happy on a weekend where there was historic flooding in the area. Baseball brought joy to a difficult situation.

The Brewers are a great baseball story, you know why? They play baseball.

As crazy as that sounds, it is the simple truth; the Brewers keep finding baseball players, keep the pressure on opponents because they run the bases hard, put the ball in play, they defend, and they pitch.

The Secret Sauce for the Brew Crew is baseball. And a big part of that is because of their manager Pat Murphy.

Murphy, 66, won the NL Manager of the Year award last year and is doing an even better job this season.

“Pat Murphy keeps it real. He does not bullshit. He’s as real as real can be.”

While other teams get buried in launch angle, spin rate and all the metrics of Baseball in the Year 2025, the Brewers and Murphy keep it relatively simple. That’s because in Pat Murphy the Brewers have a hard-nosed baseball guy who knows how to have fun and keep his players focused.

Murphy looks like he could have starred in The Natural with that baseball face peering out from the corner of the Brewers dugout. He does not put up with garbage and the players know that and respect him for it.

Here at The Story, we dig deeper so I put in a call to my friend Aris Sakellaridis, who bleeds baseball, a self-professed baseball junkie, a true New York character. Aris is still playing the game at the age of 64. He is a retired corrections officer who worked at Rikers Island. Enough said. Aris has known Murphy since 2002.

When I asked him the secret to Murphy’s managerial success, he did not hesitate to answer.

“Pat Murphy keeps it real. He does not bullshit. He’s as real as real can be,’’ said Aris, who also is as real as real can be.

Murphy has the players’ respect. He also has the Brewers owner’s respect. That would be Mark Attanasio. And that keeps it real, too. Attanasio was born in the Bronx so when Murphy introduced Aris to him, they connected at once. The Brewers have the best record in baseball at 73-44 and lead the NL Central.

Let me turn this over to Aris, who should have his own baseball podcast.

“The players love Pat, man,’’ Aris said of the Brewers success.

So how did you first meet Pat Murphy?

“We met in 2002, after 9/11,’’ Aris began. “I was playing a tournament in Arizona, and me and my friend Eric Colon, we passed by Packard Stadium, Arizona State University’s home field. So, we parked the car, and we jumped the fence to walk around the field.’’

Of course they did, you can take Aris and Eric out of New York, but you can’t take New York out of them.

“We’re looking at all the retired numbers on the wall, Barry Bonds, Sal Bando, Reggie Jackson, Bobby Winkles and I was like, ‘Wow, a lot of people went here.’

“This guy comes out and says, ‘Can I help you gentlemen,’ And I said, ‘No, we alright.’  And he goes well I’m Pat Murphy, I’m the head coach of this team. He asked, ‘What do you guys do,’ and we told him we were corrections officers on Rikers Island, and that caught his attention.’’

The next thing you know the three men were in Murphy’s office swapping stories.

After about an hour Murphy grabbed two big duffle bags.

“He took us into the equipment room,’’ Aris explained, and said, ‘Take whatever you want.’

“He was just so generous, and we filled up those bags,’’ Aris said. “And we’ve kept in contact ever since.’’

A baseball friendship was born.

Now a word about Aris. He does not hold back. He tells the truth no matter what the subject and he is a baseball expert. He understands the game and people. That is how he was able to build a strong friendship with Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner, who passed away in 2020.

Pat Murphy is as real as it gets too, so the two men automatically clicked.

“Whenever I would see Pat at a game, he would introduce me to the players and coaches and the owner like I’m part of the team,’’ said Aris, who lives in New York and St. Petersburg, Florida.

Murphy’s son Kai is a 23-year-old outfielder in the Padres organization, currently playing at AA San Antonio.

“When I met his son, Kai was nine years old,’’ Aris said. “And we were playing this game, where he would get in a rundown. Eric was on one side, and I was on the other side, the other base. So, Eric would always let him get in there safely, but every time Kai came close to me, I would tag him out. ‘You’re out.’

“So Pat calls me up the next night and says, ‘Hey let me tell you a quick story. I was putting Kai to bed last night and he said, hey dad, you know those two guys who were here yesterday, why did that one guy keep tagging me out?’’

Murphy went on to explain that he often had players like Ian Kinsler to the house, Dustin Pedroia too, and they did not tag out Kai.

Murphy told his son, “This is how it is in the real world. See, Aris doesn’t play around. He is not going to let you slide in there for nothing, those other guys, they know you are my son, so they are going to let you be safe, but when Aris was tagging you out, you were out. This is how it is going to be in life; you are not always going to be safe.’’

Good for Pat Murphy to pass that real life Aris Lesson along to his son.

I have known Aris for 25 years. I am not surprised he tagged out Kai Murphy. Lesson learned. Real life. The fact that Murphy could appreciate that speaks volumes. His managerial style is to keep it real too.

I’ve always said players want the truth; they can handle the truth if they are treated fairly. That is just one small story, one small lesson, but it reveals a lot.

Pat Murphy isn’t about to blow smoke.

When he introduced a skinny college kid named Dustin Pedroia to Aris, Murphy said, “He is going to the Hall of Fame one day.’’

Murphy knows talent. Pedroia was a four-time All-Star, the AL Rookie of the Year in 2000 and AL MVP in 2008 and Silver Slugger Award winner and won four Gold Gloves with the Red Sox. Oh yeah, three World Championships, too.

The Laser Show was something to see and Pedroia was always one of my favorite interviews during his years with the Red Sox because he kept it real. At Arizona State, Pedroia was teammates with Ian Kinsler and Andre Eithier. His three years there he had a career batting average of .384. Batting average matters. Pedroia played the game hard for Pat Murphy and had fun. Murphy also coached at Notre Dame before moving to ASU and became the youngest collegiate coach to reach 500 career wins in 1998. He was the PAC-10 Coach of the Year four times and led ASU to the College World Series four times. He knows how to win.

So, none of this winning in Milwaukee should come as a surprise, even though the Brewers are small market. Play the game right, play the game hard and your team will have success.

Murphy’s Brewers don’t quit. Murphy’s Law wins.

The Brewers won only two of the first 22 games in which the opponent scored first this year. They then flipped the script. The Brewers have come back to win 21 of the last 31 where the opponent scores first. “We’re a young team, we have throwaways, guys who are getting their second chance and it is just beautiful to see,’’ said Murphy, who was given a second chance to manage in the majors after a quick interim stint with the Padres in 2015. Craig Counsell went to the Cubs for all that money and Murphy stepped in to run the club in a baseball way. Smart move, Brewers.

Timely hits, base-running, pitching and defense. “It’s a team effort,’’ Murphy said. “I love it when they show resiliency. You can’t control the outcome always, but I love the way they just stick with it.’’

That is a testament to the players and to the leadership of Pat Murphy, a baseball man through and through. He spent eight years as Brewers bench coach before being named the 20th manager of the Brewers in November of 2023. He has managed at every level in the pros, and then there are those 25 years in the college ranks, winning 1,000 games as a college coach.

That experience is so valuable in an MLB world today that so often overlooks experience and sends experience packing. And he also has a great sense of humor, pulls pocket pancakes from his jacket to eat and gives nicknames to his players and is known to hang an “Average Joe’s’’ jersey in his office, sending another message to his team.

“Pat Murphy is a regular guy,’’ Aris said, wrapping it up. “He doesn’t walk around on eggshells. He’s us. He’s real, you can’t hate a guy like that. I wish I was a young man just to play for him. I used to tell him that at ASU.’’

It is clear that these Brewers love playing for Pat Murphy.