Gene Frenette: Former JU, MLB star Daniel Murphy pursues comeback with childlike joy

When Daniel Murphy announced his retirement from Major League Baseball at age 35 in January, 2021, the former Englewood High and Jacksonville University star recognized he wasn’t fully committed to overhauling his swing.

That’s a step Murphy felt was the only way to keep playing, to give himself a chance to hit somewhere close to his .296 career batting average.

So minus the desire to make that change, Murphy called it quits. He returned home to Jacksonville to be with wife, Tori, and their three kids (they added a third son six months ago), trying to fill his love for hitting a baseball by playing a lot of golf.

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“I like to hit stones with sticks,” said Murphy. “I found that out about myself.”

Everything was fine with his new life chapter until around last fall’s World Series.

That’s when one of MLB’s all-time hitting mad scientists, thanks to a confluence of factors, started thinking about going back into his baseball laboratory.

Murphy saw a specific hitting drill online that piqued his interest. Then he watched Ken Burns’ baseball documentary, admiring the unbridled joy that baseball legends Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson played with at the turn of the 20^th century.

What also got Murphy thinking about some kind of baseball do-over was seeing how his oldest son, 9-year-old Noah, swung a bat. It was a reminder to the three-time All-Star of how he wanted his swing to look, if only he had gone through the adjustments needed to extend his MLB career.

Now Murphy’s curiosity, along with his ferocious appetite for hitting stones with sticks, has taken him to a much different place.

At 38 years old, Murphy, who achieved most of his baseball fame with the New York Mets, is returning to professional baseball with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, considered the highest level of baseball among the four independent leagues.

“I do baseball very differently now than when I retired,” said Murphy. “It’s not that I love it any more. I’ve just observed it in a different way the last two years. It would take me overhauling my swing to move like my children do, so that’s what I did.”

Rekindling his baseball love

On April 16, Murphy begins a 10-day spring training with the Ducks under manager and ex-Met Wally Backman. He has no specific goal in mind, except to test his theory about where exactly a swing change and a renewed enthusiasm for the game might lead him.

“I want to go and play like a child plays,” Murphy said. “When I get there, I’m going to want to do well and be disappointed when things don’t go my way.

“Part of the reason I can go on this adventure is the financial freedom I got from playing the game. I feel like I have just a bit left in me, so let’s go find out.”

During his 12-year MLB career with four different teams, Murphy earned about $80 million. He doesn’t need the money or whatever adulation comes from being a popular former Met -- attempting a comeback 42 miles away from Citi Field – now suiting up at 6,000-seat Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

No, this is about Murphy satisfying a curiosity about his new baseball swing, just to see if it can hold up against quality professional pitching.

“I got 60 live at-bats at various places in January,” said Murphy. “The swing stood up. The next testing was consistent at-bats every day if I could find them, and fortunately, Long Island is offering them.

“I feel good the way I’m moving, the way I’m swinging and running bases. It doesn’t mean I’m doing these things well, just that I feel good. I want to go find out if I can do this. I’m hopefully playing like a child who goes out and plays with his friends.”

By returning to professional baseball in his late 30s, Murphy is by no means a trailblazer. Plenty of former MLB players like Carlos Baerga, Carl Everett and Juan Gonzalez have gone to the Ducks to resurrect their careers, and one of Murphy’s former Mets’ teammates, infielder Ruben Tejada, is also on the Long Island roster.

Murphy has no thoughts yet of returning to the big leagues, focusing solely on being a productive player for the Ducks. But if he plays well enough to entice an MLB team that needs a left-handed bat or somebody to come off the bench, Murphy won’t close that door.

“The next testing would be a faster sandlot and there are faster ones than the one on Long Island,” said Murphy. “The smart money says I won’t be able to perform [with the Ducks], but if I did and somebody [in MLB] wanted my services, I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

Balancing family, baseball

Few people have stayed connected with Murphy much longer than Jacksonville University head baseball coach Chris Hayes, who served as the Dolphins’ assistant under Terry Alexander during Murphy’s college career (2004-07).

When the JU legend informed his college coach he would attempt to play baseball again after a two-year hiatus, Hayes wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“I don’t think people understood how injured he was at the end of his career, and now he’s healthy from a nutrition and mind standpoint,” said Hayes. “The bottom line is Daniel Murphy was born to hit.

“He’s got a creative mind. He has some things he wants to implement into his swing that he didn’t do previously. I can’t wait to see it. He has the enthusiasm, drive, energy and willingness to do it. I’m excited to see what happens.”

Murphy is mindful of the sacrifices for his family if he’s going to play a 126-game schedule nearly 1,000 miles away from Jacksonville. During his first five MLB seasons, it was just him and Tori -- a former softball pitcher at the University of North Florida -- with no children. It’s a different ballgame now, particularly with a baby son at home in diapers in addition to three other kids.

“My wife is great and she is up for an adventure,” said Daniel. “It doesn’t come without trepidation on my part or hers. It’ll be more responsibility than she’s ever had to take on while I’m playing baseball.

“Right now, I’m doing one day at a time. There’s five people at home who like having Dad around. That’s part of the adventure, trying to weigh those things.”

Striving for perfect swing

As was the case during most of his MLB career, Murphy expects to get a look at three different infield positions (first base, second base and third base) with the Ducks.

He’s a long way from the player that set an MLB record by hitting home runs in six consecutive postseason games with the Mets in 2015, then had a career year in 2016 with the Washington Nationals (.347, 25 HR, 104 RBI) and finished second in the National League MVP vote.

But Murphy’s quest to strive for the perfect swing and make solid contact with a baseball has never wavered.

Murphy relishes extended conversations about the science of hitting because, retired or not, he never wants to stop learning about its nuances. He thrives on picking up a batting tip, whether it’s at his kids’ games or watching black-and-white baseball videos of Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.

“I’ve been curious about the swing for a long time,” said Murphy. “The movement of the swing has always drawn my attention. I love hitting baseballs on the barrel.”

How often he can do that after a two-exile from live pitching remains to be seen. But Murphy is excited to see whether a new swing at age 38 can offset the rust he has accumulated.

A return to professional baseball could last two weeks, two months or maybe even two years.

“The game is the great truth-teller,” said Hayes. “It’ll tell him whether he can do this.”

Daniel Murphy knows his most important jobs are being a husband and father.

But a reunion with his first love – hitting a baseball – is suddenly too irresistible to pass up.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Former Englewood, JU star Daniel Murphy pursues comeback after retirement