Murphy's relentless attitude infectious for the self-coined 'Average Joe's'

Numbers are an integral part of baseball. Whether it’s from a historical standpoint, a preparation standpoint or a financial standpoint, certain figures tell a story about the past, present and future of the game.

For Pat Murphy, the daily grind of a baseball season comes down to one number in particular: 200.

As in the “200 Club,” a phrase he and Harvey Dorfman, the legendary sports psychologist, coined roughly two decades ago. Coming up with the “200 Club” involves a little bit of mental math, assigning a numerical value (A being one and Z being 26) to each letter of a choice motto of Murphy’s that starts with a word that is not exactly fit to print and ends with the word “relentless.” You can do the math, but the bottom line: Both words together add up to 200.

“Can you stay in the present for every pitch?” Murphy said. “It doesn't matter what happened last pitch, next pitch, what the score is, where you're hitting on the order; can you stay in the present for this pitch? Offense, defense, on the bench, whatever. That’s kind of the mantra I go by.”

Listening to Murphy talk about the 200 Club, it’s clear why the Brewers believed he was the right guy to take over after Craig Counsell joined the Cubs.

His passion and energy are infectious, and his relentless approach has proven to be the perfect match for a Brewers club that has already faced its share of adversity this season.

“Every team that I've been a part of takes on the personality of the manager,” general manager Matt Arnold said. “Murph is certainly fiery, and I think you see that with how many times we’ve cleared benches this year [laughs]. He's a competitor at heart; that's his brand. That’s infused into our clubhouse and how we play the game.”

“In this game, you’re going to fail at times, but you have to keep your head down and keep going. That’s the 200 Club,” Wade Miley said. “If you're playing hard and you're playing the game the right way, there's never an issue with Murph.”

Counsell’s sudden departure for Chicago last November left the Brewers without a manager, and while the 65-year-old Murphy was an obvious candidate after spending the past eight seasons as Counsell’s bench coach, some wondered if Milwaukee would look outside the organization for its next skipper.

Although he knew he could thrive in the job, Murphy didn’t lobby for it. Murphy, who recruited Counsell to Notre Dame more than three decades ago, was fully prepared to head down I-94 to join his protege at Wrigley Field. But as the Brewers went through the process, it became clear that Murphy was their man.

“It all starts with relationships,” Arnold said. “He had relationships here with not only me, but our entire staff, all of our coaches and a lot of our players. When you put people first, that's generally a winning formula. Murph is a great connector, and he pushes the right buttons on everyone to get the most out of them.”

Murphy acknowledges that his age and the continuity factor worked in his favor -- “I guess there’s a little bit of wisdom that comes with experience, so hopefully I’ve picked up on a few things” -- but those can only get you so far.

“Having my eyes wide open for eight years, watching this Brewers era be pretty successful, that’s a big advantage,” Murphy said. “But the jump is the jump. It’s a lot more responsibility and a lot more to be involved with. Bench coach is the best job in America, especially for Couns, because he’s smart as a whip and a good decision-maker. That was an easy job compared to this.”

A little more than a month into his first full-time managerial gig -- he was the Padres’ interim manager for 96 games in 2015 -- Murphy and his team find themselves grappling with Counsell’s Cubs -- who else? -- for first place in the NL Central.

This weekend, the two will meet for the first time since Counsell’s departure, giving Murphy his first opportunity to face off against his former player and colleague.

“I know I was supposed to be Couns’ mentor, but he really helped me,” Murphy said. “He had never coached before [managing Milwaukee], so you would think I had a lot to offer him. The truth is, he had so much to offer me. I learned so much from him. He didn't give oxygen to a lot of small [stuff] that really helped him be a clear decision maker. That's really cool.”

Murphy has carried the same approach with him into the office previously occupied by Counsell. Focus on the task at hand, no matter what the game throws your way.

Milwaukee traded Corbin Burnes and Adrian Houser this winter, while Brandon Woodruff underwent shoulder surgery that could cost him the entire 2024 season. Now Miley is headed for Tommy John surgery, while DL Hall, who came to the Brewers in the Burnes deal, is out with a knee injury.

“We’ve gone through some adversity, but it’s fun,” Murphy said. “It’s about winning tonight. Do we have enough to win tonight? On paper, we don't. If they believe they do, do you have the awareness of what you need to do tonight to help us collectively win when it comes down to seeing strikes, taking balls or hitting the glove with your pitch? Do you have the ability to do that over and over?”

Christian Yelich jokingly refers to Murphy as “Patches,” as in Patches O’Houlihan, the blunt character from the 2004 movie “Dodgeball” who takes over as coach for the team from Average Joe’s Gym. A yellow “O’Houlihan” jersey even hangs in Murphy’s office at American Family Field.

“We call ourselves Average Joe’s Gym over here a lot of the time just because of our personnel on the team and how we go up against all these really big-market teams with huge payrolls,” Yelich said. “It's kind of fitting. It’s kind of the personality and identity of our team.”

“When you play in the smallest market in the Major Leagues, you have to bring that extra edge and play like an underdog,” Arnold said. “Murph exudes that level of energy for us every single day.”

Murphy might not be teaching his players how to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge, but his communication skills share some traits with actor Rip Torn’s candid character.

“He tells you how it is,” Yelich said. “When you play for Murph, you’re never wondering how he feels about you or what he thinks -- good and bad. He’ll tell you if you're doing something really well and he'll also tell you if you're doing something that needs to stop. That doesn't happen as much in sports now; you kind of have to decipher things. There’s none of that here. What you see is what you get.”

Murphy’s persona isn’t a character of what he thinks a big league manager should be. For better or worse, it’s just him. So far, it’s been enough to keep the Brewers in the hunt despite the aforementioned adversity.

“If I'm being authentic, if I'm being real and if I'm really present with them, I’m just me,” Murphy said. “I love doing what I'm doing and I’m passionate. That's all I can go on. I'm not spending a lot of time thinking about if I'm liked or not or if somebody's pleased with me or not. It’s about love and discipline.

“This is about people. Whenever we're in these high-pressure situations, we have to remember we're just people. We're playing a game for a living and we actually get paid for this. For me, coaching and trying to impact people has been a life’s work. I feel gifted and grateful that I can do this.”

Murphy’s right biceps features a “200 Club” tattoo, giving him a daily reminder of the attitude he wants his team to bring to the field every day. Injuries happen. Slumps happen. It’s how you respond in the face of such adversity that will ultimately determine your fate over 162 games, so why should Murphy try to analyze how every little thing impacts the big picture?

“I don't want to look from 30,000 feet and say what does this mean or what does that mean?” Murphy said. “We learn from every single day, every situation, every adversity, every punch in the mouth. Don't look up. Don't complain. Don't explain. Just keep going. ... The contract, the money, the standings, all that outside stuff that is a result of your [relentlessness], let that just be as it may. We’ll look up when it's time to look up.”