Brewers Take First Title Behind Manager Who Survived Heart Attack, Scandal

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy was 61 and on the job when a heart attack struck during an Aug. 1, 2020 workout at American Family Field. He missed much of that shortened season. On Wednesday night, six years later, the 67-year-old left the ballpark with the Brewers' first World Series title, secured in five games over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Murphy's path to the managers' chair ran through college baseball and an NCAA penalty. He won 1,000 games as head coach at Notre Dame and Arizona State, then resigned from the Sun Devils during an NCAA investigation. In December 2010, the association issued a one-year restriction on college coaching activities, saying he had "failed to promote an atmosphere for compliance for his lack of oversight and disregard of NCAA rules." He joined the San Diego Padres as a special assistant later that month and managed in the minors before taking over as San Diego's interim manager in June 2015, going 42-54.

He arrived in Milwaukee as bench coach in October 2015, hired by Craig Counsell, who had played for him at Notre Dame. The Brewers promoted him to manager in November 2023 after Counsell left for the Chicago Cubs. A month shy of his 68th birthday, Murphy could soon become the first person to win Manager of the Year in three straight seasons.

Murphy's tenure has included disciplinary moves. He pulled Cooper Pratt and William Contreras from games this year for not running hard. "When it's time to send some tough love, it looks like he's pretty good at that, too," owner Mark Attanasio said. Milwaukee outfielder Garrett Mitchell described the manager's approach as "an iron-sharpens-iron mentality, and you've got to be able to take the punches when he gives them to you."

Since becoming bench coach, Murphy has run a whiteboard exercise he calls "The Check Game," marking a check beside any name, including Attanasio's, when someone speaks from ego rather than selflessness. "Mark Attanasio wears a big Brewers logo on his private plane, I'm like: `You want everybody to know you're the Brewers' owner? That's a check.' It's in good fun," Murphy said.

Murphy pitched at Florida Atlantic in 1981 and 1982, then signed with San Francisco as an undrafted free agent but was released after a shoulder injury without appearing in a game. He went 1-5 with a 5.50 ERA for San Diego's Class-A Salem affiliate in 1983, played in Australia in 1984, and finished as a player-manager with Tri-Cities in 1986. He also managed the Netherlands in the 2000 Olympics. He has four children: Keli (40), Kai (26), Austin (11) and Jaxon (7).