Thomas F. Murphy (baseball)
Thomas Francis Murphy was an American athlete and attorney who played for and coached the Harvard Crimson baseball team.
Early life
Murphy was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 20, 1882, to Jeremiah and Margaret Agnes Murphy. He prepared for college at Cambridge Latin School, where he played second base for the school's baseball team.Harvard
Murphy made the Harvard varsity team in 1901 as a freshman. He was the starting second baseman at the beginning of the season, but was replaced by the previous year's starter, Rex Fincke, after Fincke rejoined the team. It was expected Murphy would replace Fincke, who graduated, at second base in 1901, but he and teammate, I. F. Story, were declared ineligible for the 1902 season because they played summer league baseball. Although there was no suspicion that either player had accepted money, the Harvard Athletic Committee reportedly wanted to make an example of them because the team had been warned against playing summer ball for teams that were not strictly amateur.Murphy graduated from Harvard College in 1904 and entered Harvard Law School that fall. In 1905, he was named "field coach" of the Harvard baseball team under the supervison of graduate advisor Dr. E. H. Nichols and captain C. Walter Randall. According to The New York Times, the unique arrangement came about because Randall was unable to find anyone to coach the team after the previous year's coach, Orville Frantz, declined to return for another season. Harvard went 19–5–1 in Murphy's only season as coach. He remained involved in college athletics as a baseball umpire and football referee.