As tipped the other day, Eddie Murray has joined Grady Little’s coaching staff in Los Angeles. From the LA Times’ Steve Henson.
“It’s not an empty organization,” Murray said. “They’ve got some good ballplayers here. They are strong veterans and a lot of interesting prospects. If this ballclub stays healthy, we could do some damage.”
Murray went to Locke High, played for the Dodgers from 1989 to ’91, ended his career with them in 1997, and has lived in L.A. most of his life. “I wouldn’t have taken a job anywhere else,” he said. “This has always been home.”
The only topic Murray didn’t wish to discuss was getting fired as Cleveland hitting coach in June. It was his fourth season on the job, and he was proud of developing several young hitters who became All-Stars.
“You’re hired sometimes to be fired,” he said. “It wasn’t about anything that happened on the field. There are cases where you don’t get along with everybody.”
Little said he didn’t know the circumstances of Murray’s falling out with Indian Manager Eric Wedge.
“I haven’t asked him, and at the same time, he hasn’t asked me why I left Pedro Martinez in that game,” Little said, referring to his ill-fated decision as Boston Red Sox manager to stay with his starting pitcher in Game 7 of the 2003 American League championship series.
“I like Eddie’s passion for working with young hitters ” and all hitters. There are players throughout the game who contact him for suggestions on making themselves better hitters.”
In the rich history of MySpace profiles that are a little too good to be true, Eddie’s LiveJournal is available for your perusal.
While I’ve heard from many reliable sources that Will Leitch is a really nice guy, please don’t make any comparisons between him and me.