July 26, 1978: Comedian Bill Murray smacks pinch-hit single in Northwest League game

In late July 1978, comedian Bill Murray traveled to Grays Harbor County in Washington State to film a segment for a Saturday Night Live television special.1 The location was a world apart from the hustle and bustle of New York, where SNL was normally produced.

Despite being only moderately successful at that point in his career – Murray had recently finished his first full season on SNL − the 27-year-old couldn’t go anywhere in the Big Apple without being recognized.2 By contrast, the largest city in Grays Harbor County was Aberdeen, a logging community of about 18,000 people located to the southwest of remote Olympic National Park.3 Murray enjoyed relative anonymity in that part of the Pacific Northwest, joking that he was relieved “there’s nobody [constantly] asking, ‘What is [SNL star] Gilda Radner really like?’”4

Murray’s 10-minute skit for the SNL special titled Things We Did Last Summer had him quitting comedy to pursue a baseball career with the Grays Harbor Loggers of the short-season Class A Northwest League.5 On July 26, the night before filming began, Murray made a surprise appearance as a pinch-hitter for the Loggers in a home game against the Victoria (British Columbia) Mussels.6

In front of just 141 fans,7 the funnyman was all business when he stepped into the batter’s box at Olympic Stadium, a historic all-wood ballpark in Hoquiam.8 With the Loggers leading 7-2 in the eighth inning, Murray lined a single to left field off Mussels reliever Paul “P.K.” Kirsch, recording his first – and only – hit in professional baseball. Unfortunately, no photos or video of the at-bat are known to exist.9

SNL producer Lorne Michaels had asked each cast member to create a segment for the special.10 Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, who opened for Steve Martin’s comedy tour that summer as the Blues Brothers, contributed film of their musical performance.11 The other cast members produced scripted comedy skits shot on location.12

Murray had hoped to film his segment with his hometown Chicago White Sox, but when the deal fell through, he contacted his friend Evander “Van” Schley, an avant-garde artist and baseball impresario.13 The Montreal-born and Los Angeles-based Schley had entered the baseball business in 1977 by acquiring the Texas City Stars of the ill-fated Lone Star League for $500.14

After the league collapsed, Schley was awarded a Northwest League expansion team in British Columbia’s capital for the 1978 season.15 But when he reached an impasse negotiating a lease for Victoria’s only suitable ballpark, he abandoned the expansion team and made a unique arrangement with the owners of the Loggers,16 one of four independent teams in the circuit.17 Schley sent the manager and 12 players he had under contract to Grays Harbor, paid them out of his own pocket, and retained the right to sell them to a big-league organization.18

Coming into their July 26 game against the Mussels, the Loggers – a team of players overlooked by every major-league team − were tied with the Bellingham Mariners for second place in the North Division. Their surprising 21-14 record had them just 3½ games behind the Walla Walla Padres.

The unaffiliated Mussels were mired in last place in the North Division with a woeful 10-20 record, which wasn’t surprising considering that they had to scramble to recruit players after Schley pulled out of Victoria in early 1978.19 The Mussels had one former big leaguer on their roster, southpaw hurler Dave Cheadle, and one future major leaguer, pitcher Dale Mohorcic.20 Grays Harbor’s roster did not include any such players.

Victoria right fielder Bob Potts opened the scoring in the second inning with a long solo homer to center field off Loggers lefty starter Mark Hildebrand.21

Grays Harbor responded in the bottom of the second with three runs off Mussels starter Danny Gans, who was normally a corner infielder and was making the only pitching appearance of his short professional baseball career. (Gans later became a star performer in Las Vegas for over a decade.22) The runs scored on an RBI single by center fielder Charles Barnes, a sacrifice fly by Paul Stevens, and a steal of home by Bob Rasley.23 The outburst gave the Loggers a 3-1 lead.

Kirsch, usually an outfielder or first baseman, took over the pitching duties for the Mussels in the fifth. The undrafted product of the University of Oregon had made two mop-up relief appearances the previous season for the Northwest League’s Salem (Oregon) Senators.24 Kirsch, a southpaw, struggled mightily in the fifth inning, surrendering six walks and three runs.25

Victoria shortstop Doug Morganti got one of those runs back with his sixth-inning RBI.26

The Loggers extended their lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the sixth when player-coach Jim Gattis sliced an opposite-field double off Kirsch to score Pedro “Pete” Rabassa, who had reached on a walk.

After coaching at first base for the first seven innings, Murray unexpectedly pinch-hit for Rabassa in the eighth. Murray had been working out with the Loggers for several days and held his own in batting practice.27 “I was an All-Star in Little League and Pony,” he recalled. “But all my friends started playing basketball.”28

More than three decades later, Kirsch recalled that Victoria player-manager and part-owner Jim Chapman came out to the mound and told him to give the right-handed-hitting Murray something good to hit.29 Kirsch obliged, grooving a pitch over the middle of the plate that Murray later called a “junior high fastball.”30 He lined a single into left field, but was stranded on first base.31

Mussels center fielder Steve Kasunic singled in a pair of runs in the ninth to cut the Loggers’ lead to 7-4.32 When Victoria put runners on second and third with two out, Grays Harbor manager Bill Bryk yanked Hildebrand and brought in righty Mike Rima to face the right-handed-hitting Morganti.33 Rima struck him out to end the game.

The next night, Thursday, July 27, the Loggers began a three-game series at home against Bellingham. An offer of free hot dogs and a soft drink could entice only 546 fans to attend the game and be part of the crowd scenes filmed by SNL staff.34 Another 352 patrons came out to witness the middle game of the series with Murray coaching at first base.35

Aided by Fan Appreciation Night and postgame fireworks, the Loggers set an attendance record of 1,055 in the series finale on Saturday night.36 Murray had noticed shortly after arriving in Grays Harbor that beer was not sold at the ballpark, so he sought to rectify the situation by bringing a keg of beer and plastic cups to the game.37 Like the everyman character in one of his movies, Murray wandered through the record crowd in his Loggers uniform handing out free suds.38 According to Loggers minority owner Paul Stritmatter, the Hoquiam police were unimpressed and they were in the process of arresting Murray when he persuaded the officers to let him go.39

With filming now complete, Murray got on the bus with the rest of the Grays Harbor team for the roughly 330-mile trip to Walla Walla.40 In the middle game of the series on July 31, Bryk used Murray as a pinch-hitter again, this time in the top of the ninth with the Loggers leading, 11-5.41 Instead of hitting against a position player, Murray had to face one of the league’s top relievers, San Diego Padres farmhand Randy Miller. After falling behind 0-and-2, Murray expected Miller to waste one.42 The All-Star hurler struck him out on the third pitch. “He threw three sinkers,” Murray remarked three years later in a Rolling Stone interview. “I don’t know a TV actor who can hit a decent sinker.”43 Only 400 fans at Borleske Stadium witnessed Murray’s second professional at-bat.44

The victory on July 31 moved the Loggers to within seven percentage points of the first-place Padres. After the series ended in Walla Walla, Murray left the team and traveled to Camp White Pine in Haliburton, Ontario, to begin shooting Meatballs.45 The low-budget feature film became a smash hit, sending Murray on his way to becoming a major Hollywood star.

Grays Harbor went on to win the division title with a 47-23 record, 1½ games ahead of Walla Walla.46 The Loggers won Game One of the best-of-three playoff final against the Eugene Emeralds before rain wiped out the remainder of the series.47 The Loggers were declared league champions and Murray – after the filming of Meatballs had completed – returned to the Pacific Northwest in time to celebrate with the team.48

Things We Did Last Summer aired on October 28 to mixed reviews.49 One critic found Murray’s segment amusing, while another referred to it as “the longest laughless skit.”50 Larry Williams of the Memphis Commercial Appeal quipped that the SNL special was “the biggest waste of [air] time since My Mother the Car.”51

Since Schley had some disagreements with at least one of the Grays Harbors owners, he decided to supply players to Victoria in 1979 under a similar working agreement.52 The influx of talent, which included Rabassa, future big-leaguer Tom Candiotti, and manager Bryk, helped improve the Mussels immensely and they narrowly missed winning the North Division title.53 Grays Harbor became a New York Mets affiliate and dropped to last place.

That summer Schley arranged for Murray to join the Mussels on a break from shooting Where the Buffalo Roam, a film based on the rise of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. On August 18, 1979, Murray – seemingly still in character as Thompson54 − appeared at Royal Athletic Park wearing dark sunglasses and using an “ornate cigarette-holder.”55

Murray coached at first base and entertained the fans – but he did not play in a 9-5 Victoria win over Bellingham.56 “Manager Bill Bryk, still sure he has a shot at the North Division title, wasn’t about to waste an out for theatric effect,” wrote Tom Keyser in the Victoria Colonist.57 The poorly publicized appearance drew about 200 people on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Murray was a first-base coach for the Mussels the next night in Walla Walla,58 although this time he did not ride the bus (or ferry) with the team. Murray and Schley traveled at least part of the way to Walla Walla via airplane.59

Murray went on to have a decades-long career in Hollywood, starring in movies like Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation, and several critically acclaimed films directed by Wes Anderson. Murray and Schley eventually joined Mike Veeck as members of the Goldklang Group, a company that owned several minor-league ballclubs, including the St. Paul Saints and the Charleston (South Carolina) RiverDogs.60 In 2006, teams owned by the Goldklang Group held a promotional night in which fans were given a free Bill Murray bobblehead.61 Naturally, he was depicted wearing the uniform of the 1978 Grays Harbor Loggers.

Murray finished his professional baseball career with a .500 batting average and an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of 1.000 in two at-bats.

Author’s note

The idea for this article came from a conversation with my friend Craig Richardson, who was a fan of the Victoria Mussels as a child. The Victoria and Grays Harbor teams both folded after the 1980 season.62

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

The author is grateful for the assistance provided by Craig Richardson, Katherine W. and Remy Mattocks from the Timberland Regional Library, Bill Nowlin, Alexis Rodegerdts from the Walla Walla Public Library, Alexis Hickey from the Whitman College and Northwest Archives, and Michael Wagar, editor of the Aberdeen (Washington) Daily World.   

Sources and photo credits

In addition to using the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, and The Sporting News contract cards. Unless otherwise noted, all play-by-play information for this game came from the article “Loggers Walk to Sweep of Victoria, 7-4,” in the July 27, 1978, edition of the Aberdeen Daily World. Northwest League standings were taken from the (Salem) Oregon Statesman.

The image of Bill Murray and Van Schley holding the Northwest League championship trophy was provided by Craig Richardson; it appeared in the 1979 Victoria Mussels souvenir program. The original photo was taken in September 1978 by the Aberdeen Daily World and has been republished with their permission. The box score for this game (shown below) was clipped from the Aberdeen Daily World.

Notes

1 Bruce Botka, “Saturday Night Star Shines for Local 9,” Aberdeen (Washington) Daily World, July 27, 1978.

2 Murray joined Saturday Night Live in January 1977 as a replacement for Chevy Chase. Elizabeth Logan, “The Saturday Night Live Season 2 Cast: Live from New York, It’s Bill Murray,” NBC.com, January 5, 2024, https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/saturday-night-live-season-2-cast-1977-photos; Botka, “Saturday Night Star Shines for Local 9.”

3 In 1978 the population of the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area was approximately 30,000. Reid English, “Local Efforts Revitalize Loggers,” (Salem) Oregon Statesman, August 16, 1978: 1D.

4 Botka, “Saturday Night Star Shines for Local 9.”

5 As of August 2024, Murray’s segment could be viewed on YouTube. “Bill Murray Grays Harbor Loggers,” YouTube video (Joseph Hulscher), 10:41, https://youtu.be/cdYvPNITDbg?si=3ouEFBqJn3Vqlx5S, accessed August 20, 2024.

6 Botka, “Saturday Night Star Shines for Local 9.”

7 The box score in the July 27, 1978, edition of the Aberdeen (Washington) Daily World and the linescore in that day’s Oregon Statesman both list the attendance as 141. It is not known if a local 11-year-old by the name of Kurt Cobain was in attendance. Cobain went on to become the lead singer, guitarist, and main songwriter of Nirvana, one of the most successful rock bands of the 1990s. He was born in Aberdeen and spent his childhood in Grays Harbor. Cobain played some baseball as a child. Brett Morgen, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (San Rafael, California: Insight Editions, 2015), 37-38.

8 Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam – approximately 4 miles west of Aberdeen − was built as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) program during the Great Depression. As of 2024, the stadium was still in operation. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. Amanda Lane Cumming, “Hoquiam Olympic Stadium,” NW Baseball History, August 3, 2023, https://nwbaseballhistory.substack.com/p/hoquiam-olympic-stadium.

9 The only daily newspaper in the area, the Aberdeen Daily World, published a photograph of Murray taken before the game by Jim Bates. Murray is pictured pretending to use a push broom as a bat. The newspaper was not aware that he would appear in the game, so it did not have a photographer present when he pinch-hit. Rob Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History,” Foxsports.com, 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20150222202625/https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/bill-murray-snl-40th-anniversary-grays-harbor-loggers-1978-021515, accessed August 8, 2024; Botka, “Saturday Night Star Shines for Local 9.”

10 Larry Williams “Dixie Dialing,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 30, 1978: 16.

11 Michael Hill, “TV; A Gimmick Filled Extravaganza,” Baltimore Evening Sun, October 27, 1978: B10.

12 Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, and Jane Curtin each contributed a segment for the special. Tom Dorsey, “Road-Show Stunts by Its Players Makes ‘Saturday Night’ Not Lively,” Louisville Courier-Journal, October 27, 1978: C2.

13 Murray met Schley through TVTV (Top Value Television). According to Electronic Arts Intermix, TVTV “defined the radical video documentary movement of the 1970s that was known as ‘guerrilla television.’” Schley was one of the producers of the 1976 documentary TVTV Super Bowl, which starred Christopher Guest and brothers Brian Doyle-Murray and Bill Murray. Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History”; Botka, “Saturday Night Star Shines for Local 9”; “TVTV,” eai.org, https://www.eai.org/artists/tvtv/biography, accessed August 24, 2024.  

14 Murray had spent time with the Texas City Stars in 1977; he sang the national anthem at one of their home games. Bill Walker, “Pro Baseball Returns – Just 24 Years Later,” Victoria Times, December 30, 1977: 8; Ernie Fedoruk, “Add Mussels to City Scene,” Victoria Times, April 29, 1978: 18; Joe Baird, “Schley Builds Booming Business,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 26, 1987: D7; Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

15 The Northwest League expanded from six to eight teams in 1978. That season the independent Portland Mavericks ceased operations and three new teams were added: the Victoria Mussels, Bend (Oregon) Timber Hawks, and Boise (Idaho) Buckskins. Schley originally intended to call his expansion team the Victoria Stars. Baird, “Schley Builds Booming Business”; Walker, “Pro Baseball Returns – Just 24 Years Later.”

16 After Schley backed out of the deal, three locals stepped forward as the new owners of the Victoria expansion team. The three owners were brothers Lynn and Jim Chapman and Don Rogelstad. Jim Chapman became player-manager of the Mussels. Fedoruk, “Add Mussels to City Scene”; Baird, “Schley Builds Booming Business.”

17 Four of the eight teams in the Northwest League were not affiliated with a major-league organization in 1978. They were the Victoria Mussels, Grays Harbor Loggers, Salem (Oregon) Senators, and Boise Buckskins.

18 Jim Crerar, “Hope Springs Anew for the Mussels,” Victoria Times, June 8, 1979: 24; Baird, “Schley Builds Booming Business.”

19 Fedoruk, “Add Mussels to City Scene.”

20 The Toronto Blue Jays purchased Mohorcic’s contract from the Mussels on September 25, 1978. He played five seasons with the Texas Rangers (1986-88), New York Yankees (1988-89), and Montreal Expos (1990). Mohorcic finished his major-league career with a 16-21 record, a 3.49 ERA, and 33 saves in 254 relief appearances. Cheadle was selected by the New York Yankees in the first round, 12th overall, in the June 1970 amateur draft. Cheadle’s big-league career was limited to two relief appearances with the Atlanta Braves in 1973.

21 Potts hit .308 for the Cincinnati Reds’ Northwest League affiliate in 1977. After he became upset that he was not promoted to Double A, the Reds released him on April 4, 1978. He hit .305 for Victoria in 1978. The Mussels released Potts in July 1979 and he never played professional baseball again. He finished with a career batting average of .307 and an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of .917 in three pro seasons. Hildebrand was an undrafted product of Indiana University. Ernie Fedoruk, “Bob Forgets Reds to Plague Pitchers,” Victoria Times, August 15, 1978: 10; “Senator Silhouettes,” Oregon Statesman, August 9, 1977: 2B.

22 Eight days after this game, Gans suffered a career-ending injury when he was spiked playing first base. The runner, Chuck Lindsay of the Bellingham Mariners, severed his Achilles tendon. Gans went into show business and eventually became a successful impressionist in Las Vegas. Gans was named the best all-around Vegas performer by the Las Vegas Review-Journal 11 times in a 13-year period (1997-2009). “Mussels Lose Leading Hitter,” Victoria Times, August 4, 1978: 12; Christopher Lawrence, “An Unlikely Superstar,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 26, 2024, https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/celebrity/danny-gans-how-an-unknown-impressionist-became-the-biggest-act-on-the-strip-3040198/.

23 Rasley stole home as part of a double steal. The speedy Barnes stole second and Rasley came home on the throw by Mussels catcher Jim Thamann. Barnes finished third in the league with 48 stolen bases in 1978; Rasley stole only three bases.

24 Kirsch was one of two players selected to the Northwest League’s all-star team at designated hitter in 1977. In six innings of relief that season, he allowed four earned runs on eight hits and two walks, with six strikeouts. Kirsch led the Mussels with 42 RBIs in 1978. He had a .291 batting average in seven minor-league seasons. “Solons Defeated, 12-5, for Fourth Straight Loss,” Oregon Statesman, July 22, 1977: 1B; “Solons Clubbed, 10-3; Loss Skein at Six,” Oregon Statesman, August 20, 1977: 1D.

25 According to Baseball Reference, Kirsch’s pitching line in this game was 4 innings pitched, 2 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 9 walks, and 2 strikeouts. The box score published in the Aberdeen Daily World indicates that Kirsch issued 10 walks.

26 The RBI was deduced from the box score in the Aberdeen Daily World.

27 Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

28 Botka, “Saturday Night Star Shines for Local 9.”

29 Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

30 Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History”; Jim Reding, “Padres’ NWL Lead Almost Gone,” Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, August 1, 1978: 12.

31 “Mussels Find Little Humor in a Comedian,” Victoria Times, July 27, 1978: 12.

32 The RBIs were deduced from the box score in the Aberdeen Daily World.

33 Morganti was 3-for-5 with an RBI and two long flyouts against the lefty Hildebrand.

34 Jeff Bogdanovich, “Loggers Walk to Sweep of Victoria, 7-4,” Aberdeen Daily World, July 27, 1978: B-1; “Mariners Snap Logger Streak,” Bellingham (Washington) Herald, July 28, 1978: 2B.

35 The Grays Harbor Loggers drew just 19,842 fans to their home games in 1978. Salem, Victoria, and Bend drew even fewer fans. Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

36 Jeff Bogdanovich, “Loggers Trip Bellingham Before More Than 1,000,” Aberdeen Daily World, July 30, 1978.

37 Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

38 Bogdanovich, “Loggers Trip Bellingham Before More Than 1,000.”

39 Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

40 Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

41 Walla Walla’s roster included future big-league pitchers Eric Show and Andy Hawkins, both in their first year of professional baseball. Reding, “Padres’ NWL Lead Almost Gone.”

42 Reding, “Padres’ NWL Lead Almost Gone.”

43 Lewis Grossberger, “Bill Murray: Making It Up as He Goes,” Rolling Stone, August 20, 1981.

44 “Grays Harbor – Walla Walla Linescore,” Longview (Washington) Daily News, August 1, 1978: 32.

45 Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

46 The Mussels finished in last place in the North Division with a 29-40 record, 17½ games behind Grays Harbor.

47 Associated Press, “G. Harbor NWL ‘Raining’ Champ,” Salem Capital Journal, September 5, 1978: 3C.

48 The 1979 Victoria Mussels souvenir program includes a photo of Bill Murray and Van Schley holding the championship trophy at an awards ceremony in Grays Harbor in September 1978. Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

49 Things We Did Last Summer can be viewed on YouTube. Jane Curtin’s sketch does not appear in the video. “The Things We Did Last Summer – Saturday Night Live,” YouTube video (MGB TVSHOWS/FILMS), 42:41, https://youtu.be/a101_5tUb18?si=UlVQWMjKTuVmAWm5.

50 Hill, “TV; A Gimmick Filled Extravaganza”; Dorsey “Road-Show Stunts by Its Players Makes ‘Saturday Night’ Not Lively.”

51 My Mother the Car is generally regarded as one of the worst shows in television history. The fantasy comedy was about the relationship of a man and his mother, who had been reincarnated as a classic automobile. It aired in 1965-66. Williams “Dixie Dialing.”

52 Crerar, “Hope Springs Anew for the Mussels”; Neyer, “Bill Murray’s Baseball Summer: An Oral History.”

53 Rabassa won the Northwest League batting title with Victoria in 1979. The 22-year-old led the league in batting average (.381), doubles (19), on-base percentage (.531), slugging percentage (.597), and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.128). Candiotti went undrafted after playing for Saint Mary’s College of California. He was in his first professional season with Victoria in 1979. Candiotti was the first player under contract to Schley to make the big leagues. He went 151-164 with a 3.73 ERA in 16 big-league seasons from 1983 to 1999. Baird, “Schley Builds Booming Business.”

54 “In a classic case of the role overtaking the actor, Billy [Murray] returned that fall to Saturday Night so immersed in playing Hunter Thompson he had virtually become Hunter Thompson, complete with long black cigarette holder, dark glasses, and nasty habits.” Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live (New York: Beech Tree Books, 1986), 350.

55 Meatballs was in its fifth week in a Victoria theater and Murray was a household name by the time of his appearance as a Mussels coach. Tom Keyser, “Murray Helps Pals on Rainy Day,” Victoria Colonist, August 19, 1979: 17.

56 Decades later, an urban legend that Bill Murray played in a game for the Mussels in 1979 was still circulating in Canada. He appeared in two games for the Grays Harbor Loggers in 1978, but he never appeared in a game with the Mussels. Tom Hawthorn, “Mussels Shelf Life Was Short,” Toronto Globe and Mail, June 3, 2003, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/mussels-shelf-life-was-short/article1016667/; Tom Hawthorn, “Victoria’s Latest Swing at a Ball Team,” The Tyee, June 29, 2013, https://thetyee.ca/Life/2013/06/29/Victorias-Latest-Swing-at-a-Ball-Team/.

57 Keyser, “Murray Helps Pals on Rainy Day.”

58 The UPI wire story on the game in Walla Walla erroneously reported that Murray played the previous evening in Victoria. He did not play in the game, which was an afternoon affair. United Press International, “Bill Murray Good Coach,” Napa (California) Register, August 20, 1979: 8.

59 Keyser, “Murray Helps Pals on Rainy Day.”

60 As of August 2024, Bill Murray was still listed as an executive with the Goldklang Group. His title was “Co-Owner and Director of Fun.” Gary Smith, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Sports Illustrated, August 1, 2005, https://vault.si.com/vault/2005/08/01/the-sorcerers-apprentice, accessed August 20, 2024; “Goldklang Executives,” Goldklanggroup.com, https://www.goldklanggroup.com/about/executives, accessed August 22, 2024.

61 “Spotlight: Bill Murray Bobblehead,” Fort Myers (Florida) News-Press, July 7, 2006: 21; Joe Kimball, “Joe’s Jots,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 30, 2006: B2; “Sioux Falls Canaries,” Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus Leader, August 17, 2006: L15.

62 Canadian Press, “Needy Blues Vacate Northwest Premises,” Vancouver Sun, December 17, 1980: D2.