Managing a Brewers team with the best record in baseball (81-31) and hoping for its World Series appearance since 1982, Murphy told the press after the game, “He popped a ball up to right field and didn’t run, and the ball landed and stopped. He would’ve easily got to second base. What could’ve happened after that, I’m not sure, but you can’t have a guy not understanding that…I love the kid, and I believe in the kid immensely… we can’t have that.”
To his credit, Cooper Pratt, 22, acknowledged that he was in the wrong and, as we say in the theater, “took the note.”
“There is no excuse,” he said after the game. “I should’ve ran hard no matter if it’s foul, or fair, [or] if it’s an out. I should’ve been busting my butt to get to second base. Some of the guys pulled me aside and let me know, ‘Hey, this is how we do it here,’ and I know that. It won’t happen again.” He added, “There’s a certain way to play here and I may be new, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the way we’re taught to play right through the organization from rookie ball to the big leagues. And I didn’t do that. And I will do that. No excuses.”
It isn’t just baseball that needs its veterans and old hands to pass along the right way to “do things,” to the young members of a craft, an occupation, a business or a profession. What kind of mentoring one receives and the skill of those who provide it can make the difference between career success or failure.
I must also note that I have seen veteran players, even superstars , fail to run hard to first base in similar situations to the one that enmeshed young Cooper Pratt. Rare is the courageous manager who will yank such a player from the game: it’s a classic instance of the King’s Pass (Rationalization #11). In 1978, Billy Martin memorably yanked Reggie Jackson from the game after he loafed after a ball hit his way in the outfield, and they nearly came to blows in the dugout.
Ethics Alarms 
Thirteen years ago my grandson’s team squeaked into some version of regional playoffs, the winner of which would advance toward the Little League World Series. I had attended nearly all the games and had noticed some slacking. I took an opportunity to encourage those boys to run “balls out,” like a ‘bat out of hell” to first base, every time, no matter what. If they didn’t I promised to pull every hair out of their heads.
While they were eliminated on the second day of the tournament, each boy did, indeed, run like a bat out of hell. Cooper Pratt should have learned this when he was twelve, bless his heart.
I also baked goodies for every game. After all …
I am Grandma
Did any of the fielders get benched for missing that catch?
Never. Errors are part of the game; if a player makes a good effort, even the worst errors (The ball rolling through Bill Buckner’s legs in Game 6 of the ’86 Series) no player or manager will ever fault the player responsible.
Reminds me of a coaching session I witnessed with my late wife while visiting the Red Sox Spring Training camp one year. We went over to the minor league field and watched then Sox third base coach Eddie Pappowski hitting ground balls to minor leaguer. The player muffed one and blurted out, “I’m sorry, Mr. Pappowski.” Eddie dropped his bat and said, “Kid, this is the Big Leagues. There is no ‘sorry.’ You either make the play or you don’t.” Right out of a movie. (“Star Wars,” come to think of it!)
Do or do not. There is no try.
Yoda
Typo: “after a ball his his way in the outfield”.
Right. “Hit” I’ll fix that. Thanks.
There is an interesting counterpoint in Brandon Nimmo, whom the Rangers acquired from the Mets over the off season. He has a practice of sprinting to first base when he draws a walk. I think there’s a story behind that, but I don’t recall it.
In tonight’s game, there were two balls hit to that same place on the field. One hit by the White Sox fell for a hit — I didn’t see how far the runners got on the play, but I know it scored a run and led to more that inning. The other hit by the Rangers was hit higher and the White Sox ran it down for an out.
The announcers were rather critical of the Rangers fielders for not catching the first pop up. Not an easy play, but they should have made it. These are professionals and the best in the world at what they do. They make plays that ordinary mortals would never even think about.
A little more on Pratt’s post-game interview, indicating that, in no uncertain terms, he “took the note.”:
(bolds/caps/italics mine throughout) “Wearing the emotions on his face AS HE BRIEFLY WIPED AWAY TEARS** during a three-minute interview with reporters, Pratt took full responsibility for not hustling out a potential double on the heels of not being able to get a bunt down his prior at-bat.
MONEY QUOTE: ‘I’ve got to be better, it’s stuff that can’t happen. It’s not winning baseball. I didn’t help the team win, and IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN, THAT’S FOR SURE.”
**Tears…in baseball..? Jimmy Dugan would like a word…
PWS
If there was a Mount Rushmore for baseball, Pat Murphy’s face would be on it.
If I’m not mistaken, Pat Murphy coached Craig Counsell while they were at Notre Dame. Counsell hired Murphy as his bench coach in Milwaukee. Murphy got the head job when Counsell had the gall to abandon the entire state of Wisconsin and take the head job with, of all organizations, the Cubs.
When he was the head coach at ASU in Tempe, AZ, the local paper did a profile on Murphy. He told of growing up in the Syracuse, New York area. I believe his father was an alcoholic, but certainly a gambler. The family’s two-week summer vacation would involve the entire family heading to the track with their father. I’m guessing the destination was Vernon Downs, an upstate trotter track. Pat said, “We kids loved those vacations. They were really GREAT. Until the money ran out.”
WESconsin LUVs Murphy, a certifiable throw-back.
The Brewers traded up when Counsell left for the Flubs.
PWS
Throw-back is the word, Paulie.
I think Counsell really blundered when he left for Wrigleyville.
“I think Counsell really blundered when he left for Wrigleyville.”
The difference between a Cheesehead and a $#!thead?
The ELLiNOISE State Line…
PWS