Brewers Manager Pat Murphy on Bob Uecker’s Lasting Impact on Milwaukee

Rich grew up on Staten Island, which comes with a rule. "If a guy likes Springsteen, I've got to like him, too," he said. There are bosses in New Jersey, but "there's only one Boss," and Rich was sure his guest understood that.

That guest was Pat Murphy, manager of the world champion Milwaukee Brewers, and the conversation went exactly where you'd hope: the title run, the personalities that made it work, a phone call from Freehold, New Jersey, and the man whose spirit seemed to hover over the whole thing, Bob Uecker.

Soaking it in

Has Murphy soaked it in yet? "I'm not sure totally," he said. He feels the support from the city, the community and the whole state, and from people reaching out across the baseball world. "I just feel really super grateful."

His approach, he said, is simple. "You keep your head down and you do what you do. It's not that fancy. It's not that complex. But you look up and you realize how many people were impacted."

Rich, unable to resist, worked in "land of hopes and dreams," then offered to meet at Mary's place. But he also pressed Murphy on what the title means for him personally after a long journey. Murphy deflected to his team. "It isn't about me," he said. "It's about those guys that participated, man, and they played as a team and they did things nobody predicted they could do. And that's fun to have a front row seat."

When he knew

In a National League with the Dodgers, the Padres and the Cubs, Murphy said, you don't forecast a championship. You're just trying to win tonight. The Brewers never had more than a five-game winning streak or more than a four-game losing streak. They were consistent, but they had holes, including an all-rookie pitching staff with innings limits and no idea what would happen. When one guy went down, "somebody else would step up that nobody's ever heard of," and the main characters kept playing.

The moment it turned? Getting to Tampa and winning the first two games. "You're like, this is a team of destiny," Murphy said. "There's no way they're going to get beat. They just had it." It was a different guy every night, and the way they meshed and responded when something went wrong left Murphy with one thought: "Just stay out of the way, bro."

Loving William Contreras

Rich asked how catcher William Contreras' excellence spreads through a clubhouse, and Murphy gave a remarkably honest answer. "He is a great player," Murphy said. But "not the easiest guy to cohabitate with." Contreras, he said, is "not inviting you over for snack," and that is part of who he is. "You have to learn to love that, and you have to learn to accommodate it without letting it hurt other people," Murphy said. "The guys toughest to love need to love the most, and he's one of those guys. So we found ways to love him, and he responded in a huge way."

Rich, who noted that a baseball skipper is called a manager for a reason, asked for an example. Murphy pointed to the public one. Shortly after clinching the division, Contreras didn't run out a ground ball against Philadelphia. Turner bobbled it and still threw him out. The next time Contreras came up, Murphy pinch-hit for him. Contreras wasn't happy, but the team understood.

The next game, Contreras hit a routine ground ball to short and dove into first. "That was our communication," Murphy said. "We didn't have to say anything to each other." Murphy smiled. "Okay, that's beautiful, William," he recalled thinking. "Risk getting injured, whatever, just to prove a point." But the point got across.

Rich praised everything Contreras does behind the plate, including his ABS work. One of Rich's favorite World Series posts suggested baseball replace ABS with Contreras. Then Rich asked about the lineup's knack for putting the ball in play. Murphy called it a commitment to offense, not just hitting: take balls, swing at strikes. "You go to the golf course with a lot of different clubs in your bag," he said. "You don't always have to hit the driver. Sometimes you take out the sand wedge, and that's an opposite field ground ball the other way."

Bauers, and a hot mic

Asked which player he is proudest of managing, Murphy didn't hesitate. "Bauers would be the easy one." Bauers, a journeyman, came to camp the spring before last without a contract and had to make the team. He reidentified who he is as a player, and look at the year he had. "He's going to be a rich, rich man," Murphy said, to laughter.

Rich had heard Murphy call that shot on a hot mic, too. Murphy said he regrets the information getting out, but it was said in jest. Rich was forgiving. "And said with love, I'm sure, and respect."

The call from Freehold

Then Rich asked about the Boss. Murphy explained that every season he has coached, he uses a Springsteen song as the theme, like "Prove It All Night" or "Thunder Road." His buddy John Flanigan, a Springsteen fanatic, usually picks it, and this year it was "Last Man Standing." Murphy mentioned it in his celebration speech, and Springsteen was watching. Springsteen's office reached out while the team was on the plane home from LA, but the first planned call didn't happen.

Then one morning, sitting at his table, Murphy saw "732, Freehold, New Jersey" on his phone. "You got to be kidding me," he thought. He swiped, and there was Springsteen, "just sitting having his coffee." Springsteen's opener: "Hey, I think we got something in common."

Murphy couldn't stop himself. "Bruce, you have affected my life. You have no idea," he said. He showed Springsteen his tattoo, told him about naming every season, and admitted that on free nights without his kids, he watches Springsteen's Broadway show on YouTube. "I laugh, I cry, I do everything," Murphy told him. "It's like therapy for me." Springsteen's reply: "It's like therapy for me when I did it."

Murphy guessed he has been to about 10 shows and has been backstage, but this was the way he wanted to meet him. Springsteen's message, Murphy said, resonates with a kid who grew up Irish Catholic in New York. "If you don't get it, you don't get it."

Rich, whose wife is a massive Springsteen fan and who went to high school during the "Born to Run" years, shared his own history, including the show where Springsteen closed the old LA Sports Arena and called it "the dump that jumps." Rich said Springsteen's sense of a collective speaks to Murphy's managing style.

Murphy's top five: "Darkness," "No Surrender," "Prove It All Night," "If I Should Fall Behind" and "The Rising." "Seeing 'The Rising' live, I get goosebumps even thinking about it," he said. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" and the Big Man got a mention too. Murphy last saw Springsteen at Wrigley Field, where he admitted he isn't exactly popular. "It hasn't been the friendliest place."

Bob Uecker was there

Rich's last request: his favorite Bob Uecker story. Murphy said there isn't one story. For parts of two years, he got to sit alone with Uecker for about 45 minutes a day, and he saw him every day at home for 10 years. Uecker didn't want to do the radio show. "We got that done in four minutes," Murphy said. "He sat and just wanted to talk. And I just wanted to talk to him." They rarely talked about baseball.

Instead, they talked about "his pain, his reality, my pain, my reality." Murphy marveled at how Uecker stayed so positive through lung cancer, years of health problems and tragedy, and how he was always there for somebody else.

Uecker was at home in that clubhouse. A player called up from Triple-A for maybe a week would get the full treatment: Uecker would befriend him, remember his name and talk to him like he'd known him his whole life. "The guy standing there looking at him like, 'This is Bob Uecker, and he's treating me like I'm a star,'" Murphy said. "He did that with everyone." The ballpark was Uecker's therapy, the place he was most comfortable, and sometimes the two of them got talking so long that Uecker's people had to come get him. "Bob, you're on the air."

Was there a moment in the playoff run when Murphy felt Uecker's presence? Game 1 against the Padres. Ninth inning, up a run, and Ty France hit a moonshot that was "easily going to be a home run." For the first time in Murphy's 11 years in Milwaukee, the ball hit a wire up on the roof, got knocked down, and Chourio caught it to end the game. "If that ain't Uke, I don't know who is," Murphy said.

Then came Chourio's incredible at-bat after the Brewers loaded the bases against Mason Miller with three walks. People think the Brewers had the signs, Murphy said, which is "absolutely not true, but let them think what they want." Either way: "This is meant to be. That's when you started to go, this is magical."

Before letting him go, Rich asked whether Murphy was already working on next year's Springsteen phrase. The two traded titles, from "Backstreets" to "Point Blank" to "Thunder Road," with one condition attached: "As long as there's no freeze out."