Weekend BP: Mike Murphy retires

Happy weekend, San Francisco Giants fans.

On Friday, poignant news came out about the Giants: Mike Murphy has retired.

If you’re not familiar with Murphy’s name, then you’re probably familiar with his face. If you’ve watched a game in recent years — and by “recent years” I mean “since the Giants moved to San Francisco” — then you’ve probably seen Murphy. Maybe you’ve seen him lurking behind the scenes. Maybe you’ve seen him being handed the baseball after a rookie’s first hit. Maybe you’ve seen him navigating through the crowd of celebrating Giants to try and pocket whatever valuable items need to be saved from getting lost or trampled on after a World Series win or a perfect game.

Murphy’s story is so unique that it’s hard to believe. I say that literally. I’ve told many people about Murphy and their reactions range from honest disbelief to one of those hyperbolic emojis.

Murphy started working for the Giants when he was 16.

Murphy never stopped working for the Giants.

Murphy turns 81 in a few days.

He was a bat boy for the Giants during their inaugural San Francisco season in 1958, six years before Barry Bonds was born. And he was their clubhouse manager in 2022, 15 years after Bonds retired.

A lifetime of baseball. A lifetime of Giants baseball.

The news was announced by Abe Silvestri, the Senior Director of Team Operations, though he’s since made his social media page where he announced it private. Murphy has yet to publicly comment.

Farewell to a great Giant.

In other Giants news, catcher Austin Wynns, who was designated for assignment a week ago, cleared waivers and has been outrighted to AAA Sacramento. Before Wynns cleared waivers, President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi said the team hoped to retain Wynns.

The Giants currently have only Joey Bart and Rule 5 utility player Blake Sabol as catchers on the 40-man roster, and Zaidi said on Thursday that he doesn’t anticipate signing any free agent catcher to a Major League deal. Which means Wynns — who was DFA’d to clear a roster spot for Michael Conforto — has a pretty good chance to make the roster during Spring Training.