Born October 2, 1891 in Hancock, NY
Died February 21, 1969 in Dunmore, PA

John Edward Murphy was born on Friday, October 2, 1891, in Hancock, New York. Murphy was 21 years old when he broke into the big leagues on August 26, 1912. His rookie year was played with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics posting a batting average of .317. The following year he appeared in his first World Series when the A's faced the New York Giants. He would later lace up spikes for the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. When Babe Ruth made his debut as a pitcher the first batter Ruth faced was  Eddie Murphy. Murphy had much in common with Ruth. Both of their parents were in the "saloon" business. In 1918 the two had nearly identical batting averages. Only 3 percentage points would separate them. Ruth finished the season with .300 and Murphy with .297. Murphy ended his career with a lifetime batting average of .287.  This was a period of greatness in baseball. Even Murphy's batboy, Gabe Paul, would go on to bigger and better things. Paul would become the General Manager of the New York Yankees. Murphy was a teammate of Shoeless Joe Jackson when they played for the infamous Chicago "Black Sox". It was here, after the 1919 World Series that Eddie would receive the nickname of  "Honest" Eddie Murphy. When 8 of his teammates were accused of fixing the 1919 World Series, Eddie would not be tainted by the scandal and was known from that day on as "Honest" Eddie Murphy.  "Honesty pays", according to a letter Eddie received in 1920 from Sox owner, Charles Comiskey. He played in a total of 3 World Series, an honor most of today's multimillion dollar ball players can only dream about. He played 11 years in professional baseball with the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates. When asked why he liked the New York Yankees, he replied, "Because they pay their players". Honest Eddie Murphy died in Dunmore, Pennsylvania in 1969.