After Jakub Janda already did an interview with Ryan Murphy when he joined Technika Brno at the beginning of the season, he did another one with the pitcher/first baseman who is back in Australia.
Ryan Murphy
- Born August 19, 1981 in Edmonton, Canada
- Right-handed pitcher, first baseman
- Played in Northern League, in Australia and in Taiwan
- His European Teams: Savigny Lions (FRA), MediaMonks RCH, L&D Amsterdam Pirates, Konica Minolta Pioniers (all three NED), Technika Brno (CZE)
- Holland Series MVP in 2008 with the Pirates
- Hoofdklasse MVP and Best Pitcher in 2009 with Pioniers
- MVP European Cup Qualifier in 2010 in Antwerp with Technika
Jakub Janda: Ryan, could you briefly describe your baseball careers till 2010?
Ryan Murphy: It’s hard to describe briefly but I’ll do my best.
As a kid I always wanted to play baseball for a living, though no one (including myself) really expected me to play this long. I’ve never been a prospect for affiliated baseball so I went through high school and college without any real attention from professional baseball teams. Luckily after college I was given the chance to fill a spot in the bull pen on the roster of a Northern League team to finish the last month of the the 2005 season. I didn’t pitch very much and didn’t pitch all that well but it got me the opportunity to play for a the Savigny Lions in France. Playing with them gave me the chance to show what I could do as a hitter and a pitcher which is what I had done all through College. We played in the Cupwinners European Cup and we finished 2nd. I was fortunate enough to win MVP of the cup. This tournament exposed me to European baseball and the next season I was picked up by a team in Holland where I played from 2007-2009. From doing well in the Dutch League I was picked up to play in the South Australian Baseball league (where I am currently playing my 4th consecutive season). I also played in Australia’s Claxton Shield in 2009-2010. After being named MVP and Best Pitcher in Holland for 2009 and having a fairly successful Claxton season I was signed by The Brothers Elephants of the CPBL in Taiwan. I went through spring training with a 0.0 ERA but had an awful start to the season allowing 4 runs in 3 and 1/3 innings in my first start. Following the game I was released. From there I decided to join some old friends in the Czech Republic and play in the Extraleague.
JJ: What do you consider your career highlight?
RM: I’ve had some really great moments in my career, but I would have to say beating the New South Wales team in game 3 of the semi-finals of the Claxton Shield is one of my favorite memories. I pitched a 2-hitter against a pretty solid team from Sydney and hit a solo homerun to win 1-0, and put our team into the Grand Final.
JJ: Do you have something on the baseball field what you would do differently if given the opportunity to change that?
RM: Not really, I think I’ve always pretty much given a good effort no matter where I’ve played. In baseball you’re going to make mistakes and I’ve certainly made a lot of them. On the field, off the field, as a coach and as a player, and if I never made a mistake I don’t think I would have developed into the player I am now.
JJ: What literally persuaded you to join the Czech Extraleague?
RM: In the past 5 years I’ve tried to play the best baseball that I could and I’ve pushed myself pretty hard without many chances to relax and after being released from Taiwan I felt like it was time to take a step back and relax for a season and just have some fun. In saying that the Czech league is not a joke, there are some good players and some good competition and though I was less focused than I had been in the past I didn’t take my season lightly.
JJ: What were you first impressions after first few weeks?
RM: I didn’t really have a lot of surprises, I had seen games in the past so I knew what to expect.
JJ: How would you comment the Czech mentality, on and off the field?
RM: I would say that there is a desire to win, but without a lot of attention to details. Growing up in Canada and playing college baseball in the United States there was always an emphasis on doing little things right, and making finite adjustments to mechanics. On the positive side, I found that people always wanted to have fun, whether it be at the ballpark or elsewhere, which I think is a great thing. I enjoyed myself at every game this season.
JJ: Give us your insight on the team you played for.
RM: For me Kravi Hora is a really special place. I lived there for 5 months and felt like I became a part of the Technika family. There is a core group of people there that make it work. No team is perfect and I do wish that things were slightly more professional and that there were more people involved and committed, but those that are committed are very good people that I have a lot of respect for.
JJ: What changes would you recommend to the Czech baseball association or the whole Czech baseball community?
RM: I haven’t been there long enough to understand everything that goes on, but I think people involved need to focus on getting more numbers in junior programs, better coaching and most importantly if you expect to compete on an international level you have to pay the National Team players. I don’t think you have to pay them a lot, but you can’t expect you best players to take holidays from work just so he can compete against Cuba without some sort of compensation. I think by paying players you will get more committed and more determined players and when National team players return to their club teams, that mentality will rub off on their amateur teammates.
JJ: Have you seen any games of Czech national team? What were your thoughts?
RM: Actually I haven’t seen any games.
JJ: Could you give us some bullet points and thoughts on comparison among leagues you played in?
RM: It’s really hard to compare leagues, there aren’t a lot of glaring differences. I think the approaches to the game are the biggest difference.
America – Everything is about winning and training hard. There is a lot of attention to mechanics and small details.
Australia – There is less emphasis on training but once the game starts players are extremely intense and want to win at almost any cost.
Europe – I would say that Europe is somewhere in between.
Asia – There didn’t seem to be a lot of time spent on strength training, but Asian player would instead spend ridiculous hours working on their on the field skills.
JJ: What are your future plans? Do you already have your 2011 scheduled up?
RM: I currently don’t have a team to play for in 2011. I’d like to play somewhere competitive as I would like to put up some good numbers and try to play in Taiwan again as I won’t be elligible to play there again until 2012.
Thank you for your time.
Jakub Janda
The interview also was prepared for www.Baseball.cz.
Photo: © Ron Wickert, www.eott.nl