Pat Murphy and I sat at his kitchen table one night in February. We talked a little about baseball and a lot about life, which is common in conversations with the 2024 National League Manager of the Year.
Murphy had welcomed our MLB Network feature crew into his world for a day, amid preparations for his second season as the Brewers’ manager. We rode in Murphy’s SUV to a Spring Training game. We interviewed his 10-year-old son, Austin, as the Brewers and Giants played in Scottsdale. We visited the family’s Phoenix-area home to observe the weekly Wiffle ball game -- equal parts carefree and competitive -- that Murphy organizes for his sons and their friends.
As the hours and stories rolled by, I felt the burden of realizing how much of Murph’s storytelling wouldn’t make the final cut for the feature story that airs Wednesday as part of our Opening Day coverage.
And that was before Murphy started telling me about his friend, Muhammad Ali.
