Pat Murphy needed a new hip, so he scheduled replacement surgery for a date safely beyond the World Series. The timing worked out: The Milwaukee Brewers lifted the franchise’s first-ever Commissioner’s Trophy late last month.
But after Murphy and the Brewers celebrated a five-game victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, the manager may not have been thinking about when the National League Manager of the Year award would be announced. On Tuesday, Murphy added another piece of hardware to his collection and etched his name into MLB history as the first manager from either league to win the award three consecutive years.
“I’ve got nothing to do. I’m just sitting here,” Murphy quipped during a call with reporters.
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The announcement came less than two weeks after the MLB postseason wrapped up and one day after Murphy underwent replacement surgery, a coincidence he said he never anticipated.
“The doctor gave me some dates and I just picked a date one day, and I had no idea that it was going to coincide. I wasn’t thinking in those terms,” said Murphy, who turns 68 later this month. “I was just thinking about what we had, task at hand. I mean, I probably picked it a month ago and obviously I picked it after the World Series was done, but I didn’t know we were going to be in the World Series at that time. But I thought it was a safe date to do it.”
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In the American League, Will Venable won Manager of the Year honors after the Chicago White Sox became the first team in MLB history to reach the playoffs following consecutive 100-loss seasons. Chicago finished 84-78 this year.
Balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America was conducted before the postseason and announced Tuesday night.
Milwaukee has won the NL Central in all three seasons with Murphy as its manager after he spent eight seasons on Craig Counsell’s coaching staff. The Brewers led the majors this year with a franchise-record 103 wins during the regular season, then in the playoffs swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series to advance to the World Series.
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Murphy survived a heart attack in August 2020 that happened on the day of a Milwaukee workout.
The Brewers play in Major League Baseball’s smallest market and have a payroll in the bottom half of the sport, but have had the best record in the big leagues each of the past two seasons.
Only three other managers have won the award three times in the same organization. Bobby Cox, one of three four-time winners along with Buck Showalter and Tony La Russa, earned three with the Atlanta Braves (1991, 2004 and 2005). Cox is also the only other back-to-back NL winner.
Terry Francona was a three-time winner with Cleveland (2013, 2016 and 2022), while Dusty Baker won three times with the San Francisco Giants (1993, 1997 and 2000).
The AL and NL Cy Young Award winners and Relievers of the Year will be announced Wednesday. MVP winners will be revealed Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.