» June 4, 1970: In the June draft, the Padres select high school catcher Mike Ivie as the number-one pick and sign him in three days to a $100,000 contract. He'll play in the ML 11 years but catch only nine games in the bigs because of a phobia about throwing the ball back to the pitcher. Choosing next, the Indians take Stanford P Steve Dunning, who will debut in 10 days. Catchers Barry Foote (Expos) and Darrell Porter (Brewers) go next. The Pirates wait till the 14th round to take Dave Parker. Rich Gossage goes in the 9th round to the White Sox; Rick Reuschel to the Cubs (3); pitcher Dale Murphy to the Braves (18th). The Giants took Randy Moffitt and Chris Speier on the first round in January and repeat the good first round picks today with John D'Acquisto and Dave Kingman. The Reds take prep SS Gary Polczynski in the first round, but have better luck in the 8th (Will McEnaney), the 10th (Ray Knight) and the 19th (Pat Zachry). The Phillies, Royals, Dodgers, and Angels pick 5th, 8th, 9th and 10th on the first round and also come up with duds. Future seventeen-year major leaguer Frank White goes undrafted today. » June 5, 1974:
The June draft produces just 725 picks, the fewest in history, and only 300 of these are from the college ranks, with the low number blamed on the introduction of aluminum bats this past season. The Padres, with their 3rd number-one free-agent pick in five years, select Brown University SS Bill Almon, the TSN College Player of the Year. They had selected him three years earlier out of high school, but he attended college instead. The Rangers take P Tommy Boggs with the 2nd pick and the Phils follow with prep OF Lonnie Smith. With the 5th pick, the Braves select Dale Murphy; the Angels, picking 10th take the ill-fated Mike Miley, who quarterbacked LSU to a win in the Orange Bowl. the Tigers take Lance Parrish with the 16th pick, the Royals pick prep football star Willie Wilson with the 18th, and the Red Sox, picking 20th, take SS Eddie Ford, son of Whitey Ford. Picking next, the Dodgers get Rick Sutcliffe. The Orioles, with the 24th pick in round one pick Rich Dauer, the top player for USC's championship team; four of their other picks will end up in the NFL (QB's Andy Johnson, Steve Bartkowski, and John Sciarra, and Anthony Davis). The Cards use a pick on the NFL Giants Brad Van Pelt, the 5th time he's been selected. The Twins pick up prep C Butch Wynegar, who will make the American League All-star team at age 20.
» May 18, 1979: Dale Murphy has three home runs in three at bats, knocking in five runs, to pace the Braves to a 6–4 victory over the Giants.
» August 30, 1982:
The Phils split a pair with the Braves, winning 6–1 on Dick Ruthven's 3-hitter, before losing game 2, 11–9. Dale Murphy's home run is Atlanta's only score in the opener. Mike Schmidt has an inside-the-park home run in game 2, the 2nd of three he'll hit.
» November 17, 1982: Dale Murphy wins the National League MVP Award, becoming the first Brave to be so honored since Hank Aaron in 1957. The centerfielder hit .281 with 36 home run, 109 RBI, 113 runs, and 23 stolen bases.
» September 24, 1983: In the 9th inning of Atlanta's 3–2 win over Los Angeles, Braves OF Dale Murphy walks, steals 2B, and scores the winning run on Rafael Ramirez's single. The stolen base makes him only the 6th player in ML history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season.
» November 8, 1983: Atlanta's Dale Murphy wins his 2nd consecutive National League MVP Award, joining Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan, and Mike Schmidt, who also accomplished that feat. Murphy hit .302 with 36 home runs, 121 RBI, and 30 SBs this season, and received 21 of a possible 24 first-place votes.
» April 30, 1985: Dale Murphy drives in his 28th and 29th runs of the season in Atlanta's 8–4 win over the Reds, tying Ron Cey's 1977 record for RBI in the month of April.
» July 9, 1986: Atlanta's Dale Murphy does not play in the Braves 7–3 win over the Phillies, ending his consecutive-game streak at 740. Murphy hadn't missed a game since September 1981.
» August 21, 1987: Dale Murphy hits his 300th career home run as Atlanta beats Pittsburgh, 5–4. He stroked his 1500th hit on August 5th.
» September 12, 1988: Baltimore's Eddie Murray collects his 2,000th career hit in a 6–1 loss to Boston, and Atlanta's Dale Murphy drives in his 1,000th career run in a 5–4 loss to Los Angeles.
» July 27, 1989: Atlanta's Dale Murphy hits two home runs in the 6th inning of a 10–1 rout of San Francisco, becoming the first Brave to accomplish the feat since Robert Lowe in 1894. Murphy also drives in six runs in the inning to tie another ML record, as the Braves score all ten runs of their runs in the outburst.
» April 21, 1990: The Reds beat the Braves 8–1 to run their record to 9-0, the best start in club history. The lone Brave score is a home run by Dale Murphy, his 335th as an Atlanta Braves, passing Hank Aaron. The Reds will lose tomorrow to Atlanta, the team with the best (13–0 in 1982) start ever.
» July 2, 1990:
The Braves send Dion James to the Indians for CF Oddibe McDowell. The Braves will move Dale Murphy back to RF.
» July 27, 1990: The Braves drop 10 runs on the Giants in the 6th inning to win, 10–1. The big inning features two home runs and six RBIs by Dale Murphy, just the 3rd player in history to pull off the feat.
» August 3, 1990:
The Braves trade 2-time MVP OF Dale Murphy to the Phillies for reliever Jeff Parrett and a pair of players to be named later.
» November 6, 1990: Braves OF Dave Justice wins the National League Rookie of the Year award. He hit .282 with 28 home runs, 20 coming after he replaced Dale Murphy in RF in early August.
» April 3, 1993: The Rockies sign free agent vet Dale Murphy. The two-time MVP will hit just .143 in 26 games for the Rocks.
» May 27, 1993:
Two homers shy of 400, Dale Murphy reluctantly announces his retirement before the Rockies game in Houston. The Rockies were going to release Murphy to make room for Chris Jones. Murphy hit no homers in his brief time with the Rockies.
» April 29, 1994:
Colorado 1B Andres Galarraga sets a new National League record by driving in his 30th run of the month in the Rockies' 6-5 victory over Chicago. The previous league mark of 29 was held by Dale Murphy and Ron Cey.
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