Former Met of the Day: Dale Murray (1977-1978)

Dale Albert Murray was born February 2, 1950 in Cuero, Texas. Murray was drafted by the Expos in the 18th round of the 1970 draft. He came up in 1974, as reliever and was 7th in the league with 10 saves. In 1975 he was a 15 game winner, with 9 saves and a 3.36 ERA out of the bull pen. After leading the league in appearances in 1976 with 81, he was involved in the big Tony Perez trade. He went to the Reds along with Woodie Fryman for Perez & Will McEnaney. He then spent a year and a half in Cincinnati, going 7-2 in 1977 and then arrived at Shea Stadium with the hapless 1978 Mets in a trade for Ken Henderson.

Prior to joining the Mets he was 5-1 with four saves against the Mets. Looking back to 1977 he did ok, going 8-5 with 5 saves & a 3.65 ERA. His best stretch was the end of the season from August 19th on he went 4-1 with a save. In 86 innings he gave up 85 hits, struck out 37, walked 36 & allowed 35 runs. In 1979 Murray was 4-8 with an ERA near five when the Mets sold him back to Montreal. Overall as a Met he was 12-13 with 9 saves.

After that he went to Toronto, the A.L. New York team & one game in Texas before retiring in 1985. Lifetime Murray was 53-50 with a 3.35 ERA & 60 saves.