Murphy Currie

“From the Cape Fear League to the majors in three months is ‘some rise.’”1

High society. Murphy Currie was born into it in eastern North Carolina, in a vast country compound named “Glendale,” outside Fayetteville. He followed stardom on the diamond at in-state Davidson College with three no-hitters over 12 days in Carolina amateur ball during the summer of 1914. Currie was soon allured by the siren song of a pro contract, eschewing his final two years of college eligibility. After nearly flaming out in one of the lowest bush leagues by May 1916, less than 90 days later, the spitballer performed admirably in six late-season games for Miller Huggins and the downtrodden St. Louis Cardinals.

Archibald Murphey Currie was born on August 31, 1893, in Fayetteville, North Carolina.2 His father, Captain John Henry Currie, from a Scottish lineage, was a Confederate soldier in the North Carolina calvary under Capt. John McKellar, and later a Democratic state legislator. John had been wounded in the Civil War during the 1865 Battle of Five Forks. Mother Lucy Murphey Jackson Currie was the granddaughter of former governor Jonathan Worth. John and Lucy married in 1881 and had eight sons and a daughter. Oldest son John Henry tragically died as a 10-year-old in a horse-riding accident in May 1893, three months before Murphy was born.

Murphy attended the Donaldson Military School, connected with the First Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville. Currie pitched for the D.M.S. school team in 1911 and 1912 before the school permanently closed its doors.3 That spring, Murphy enrolled at Davidson College, where during his first year he ran track and competed in the long jump – he was not eligible as a freshman for the baseball team.4

Nonetheless, in the summer of 1913, the righthander, standing at 5-feet-11 and weighing 185 pounds, pitched for multiple North Carolina amateur teams.5 On May 12, pitching for Parkton, he no-hit Fairmont.6 On June 18, he tossed another no-hitter, 2-0, for Raeford against Rockingham, striking out 16.7 This feat occurred a day after Raeford teammate Jakie May had also no-hit Rockingham.8 It was claimed that Currie had tossed four no-hit games in his 13 starts, with the punchline in the paper, “If any amateur can beat that for unhitableness sic he has a whole grove of laurel trees coming to him.”9

Currie won his own game 9-8 for Red Springs on July 7 with a two-out walk-off grand slam against McCall.10 Red Springs qualified as the eastern representative for the state amateur championship for 1913. Currie tossed eight innings in a scoreless tie on August 30 in the second game of the series against Lumberton,11 which later won the banner.

In his 1914 collegiate campaign, Currie excelled on the mound for Davidson. He beat Catawba in the opening game, relieving the prior year’s main pitcher, Bill Osteen. Currie did fall to Ernie Shore and Guilford College 7-3 on April 4, the second year in a row Shore had bested the Presbyterians.12 On April 15, Currie lost to the University of South Carolina, 1-0.13 Nine days later, he threw a one-hitter against Wake Forest.14

A week later, Currie returned to the North Carolina amateur circuit, starting with Carthage. On May 21, twirling for Raeford, he threw a 3-0 no-hitter against Fairmont, striking out 15 while knocking in all three runs.15 He threw his second no-hitter of the season for Raeford on July 4 in a 6-0 whitewashing of Carthage.16 Six days later, he threw his third no-hitter of the season, striking out 15, while also ripping a home run, two doubles, and a single in a 13-0 win over Lumberton.17 In his next start, Currie threw his fourth no-hitter of the season on July 15, a 6-0 victory over Smithfield, striking out 17.18

Raeford faced Morganton in the state amateur championship. Before the series, it was reported that Currie boasted a 14-1 record that season for the eastern North Caolina amateur champions. But why didn’t he start the opening game, a 1-0 Raeford loss to Morganton and Lona Jaynes? It was revealed that “Currie’s arm for the past week has been in a sling so that he has been unable to pitch in that time. Up til the time of the game it was hoped that he could work but after warming him up his arm hasn’t gotten unused – you might say – to the sling.”19

Currie recovered enough to beat Morganton the next day, 3-2, with 13 strikeouts, to tie the series.20 However, Morganton won the next day to triumph. Currie was “rated as the best amateur pitcher in the state.”21 Professional teams swooned for him. Nashville offered Currie a fat contract and offered to pay college expenses for him to finish at Davidson.22 Currie finally signed with the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Class A Southern Association,23 but only after the team agreed to “guarantee him a complete course.”24 So he forwent his final two years of collegiate eligibility in order to sign.

Currie made “a promising debut” for the Lookouts on September 9, allowing New Orleans but one hit over five innings, before a split finger forced him to retire for the day.25 It was opined that “his invasion of professional ranks was certainly a glorious one and presages a brilliant career.”26 In his third game with the sixth-place Lookouts, on the final day of the season, he surrendered 21 hits in a farce of a game, yet beat Montgomery again, 10-9.27 Nonetheless, Southern League umpire Win Kellum heaped praise on Currie, claiming he “has the best fast ball I have seen in the Southern League this season. His fast one not only has a terrific hop, but it breaks downward in a manner that I have never seen equaled.”28

Currie planned to return to Davidson for fall classes, even though he was by then ineligible for the baseball squad. His brother John would also pitch for Davidson, in 1916.

While in 1915 camp with the Lookouts, the 21-year-old Murphy combined with 19-year-old lefty Sammy Ross to shut out Cincinnati, 1-0, in an exhibition on April 2.29 However, Chattanooga manager Harry “Moose” McCormick released Currie in mid-April after the hurler lost his only game for them.30 Currie signed with the Raleigh Capitals of the Class D North Carolina State League, posting a 5-7 record in 18 games for manager Earle Mack, son of Connie. Two other 21-year-olds anchored the rotation for the third-place Capitals, led by 29-game winner Elmer Myers, along with Rube Parnham.

By May 1916, Raleigh skipper Henry Busch released Currie.31 The youngster landed with Fayetteville of the independent Cape Fear (North Carolina) League, whose rules allowed only four “hired players” per club.32 Currie moved in late June to the Jacksonville Tarpons of the Class C South Atlantic League. Called “Hal” at times, Currie went 6-4 in 15 games. He soon was released following a poor outing in mid-August.33 However, less than 10 days later, he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals.34 Currie first joined the club on August 27, earlier than expected, after pitcher Bill Doak had broken his thumb on a comebacker days earlier.35 Another Jacksonville Tarpon, Stuffy Stewart, was also promoted by St. Louis.

Currie debuted for the Cardinals on August 31 at home against the Chicago Cubs with two scoreless innings of an 8-1 defeat, in relief of fellow debutant reliever Cy Warmoth, who had allowed three runs without recording an out. The Cardinals committed an astounding nine errors in the contest.

Currie allowed two runs over four innings on September 16 against Boston. On September 21, in his last major-league appearance, Currie pitched 3 1/3 (scoreless) innings in relief, allowing but two hits. The Charlotte News noted that “Murphy Currie wasn’t going good for Raleigh yet Murphy is pitching great ball for the St. Louis Nationals just now.”36

Currie finished his six games (all Cardinals losses) with an ERA of only 1.88, surrendering only seven hits, although he walked nine over 14 1/3 innings. Currie’s collegiate paper, the Davidsonian, showed its pride, proclaiming Currie’s ascension to the majors “one of the most rapid on record.”37 Yet by December, the Cardinals asked waivers on 10 players, including Currie.38

In January 1917, St. Louis sold Currie to the defending champion Omaha Rourkes of the Class A Western League.39 He was recommended to Omaha’s owner, Pa Rourke, by scout Tom Connor.40 On May 14, he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against Denver, but a William McCormick comebacker leading off the ninth ricocheted off his foot, resulting in a base hit and ruining the bid. Currie still won, 4-1.41

After posting a 7-9 record for manager-shortstop Marty Krug, Currie jumped Omaha in July 1917 to return to North Carolina to farm. He was thus suspended, although it was reported that he might be recalled by the Cardinals.42 One report stated that Currie told Omaha his mother was sick, while some teammates thought he was getting into farming in order to gain an exemption from serving in the Great War.43 This insinuation was false, however, as he joined the military by December 1917.

Currie was sent to the Naval Aviation School in Pensacola, Florida, as of January 1918,44 along with three other Fayetteville men, including brother John.45 Another brother, Reverend Edward S. Currie, served as a wartime chaplain at Camp Jackson.46

Murphy, still under reserve by St. Louis, returned his 1918 Cardinals contract unsigned to team president Branch Rickey. He wrote a heartfelt letter to Rickey which was printed in the St. Louis Star:

Mr. Branch Rickey, St. Louis, Mo.:

Dear Sir – I received your letter with contract inclosed (sic) several days ago.

I would like very much to sign for the coming year, but there is not any use, as I am in the aviation services now and will be till we bring this war to an end. I like my work fine and hope to be flying over the U-boats soon with a ‘fast one’ that will send ’em to the shower in short order.

Naval aviation will play an important part in bringing Germany to her knees, I am sure.

Well, Mr. Rickey, here’s hoping that I can play for you when the war is over, and wishing you and all the fellows the very best of luck for a good season. I beg to remain, yours very truly, Murphy Currie.47

Currie would never return to the Cardinals. He was transferred from Pensacola, where he became a dirigible pilot, to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he took special courses.48 But after the Armistice ending World War I was signed in November, Currie soon returned home.

In January 1919, Rickey included Currie in a huge trade, sending him with Roy Jenkins, Johnny Beall, John Brock, and Rankin Johnson to Kansas City for Joe “Germany” Schultz.49 Kansas City rightfully stated that Currie was a spitballer, a pitch outlawed in the American Association, with Rickey claiming he didn’t know that Currie was such a pitcher. So, Rickey threw in Bruce Hitt and Fred Lamlein and the deal was consummated. But Currie did not join Kansas City although officially their property. Instead, he returned to North Carolina. A 1919 North Carolina phone directory listed Murphy as a buyer for the Currie Lumber Company, a family business run by brother David. Murphy pitched in the summer for a local YMCA team against a Wilmington shipyard squad.50

Kansas City sold Currie in 1920 to San Antonio of the Texas League,51 but he never reported, so he was placed on Kansas City’s voluntarily retired list. After officially being released in 1921, Currie was rumored to be joining the Columbia (South Carolina) Comers of the Class B South Atlantic Association.52 Columbia manager Zinn Beck could not, however, coax his former teammate at St. Louis back into the professional ranks.53

Back in Carolina that November, Currie, assisted by Miss Hester Virginia Calvert Lilly, was lead organizer for a formal ball to cap off the annual Cape Fear Fair. Thus, he transitioned from the sports pages to the North Carolina society pages.

On October 16, 1923, in “a wedding of unusual brilliance and social importance” in Fayetteville, Currie married Hester.54 Her father was Dr. Henry Walter Lilly, a prominent physician.

By 1926, the Curries hosted the Ace of Clubs bridge club at their home on Haymount. Murphy also served as a coach of his younger brother Sam’s Fayetteville Highlanders semipro team, during which Sam also threw a no-hitter.

Murphy and Hester narrowly escaped death in 1928 when a car in which they were riding after a dance collided with a train; somehow, they were uninjured.55 The Curries were divorced by 1933; their marriage produced no children. Murphy later entered the insurance business around Asheboro and lived with his sister and brother-in-law in Lumberton.

Murphy Currie died unexpectedly in his sleep on June 18, 1939, in Asheboro, North Carolina. He was just 45. He is buried at Cross Creek Cemetery #2 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was survived by one sister and five brothers.56

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Paul Proia.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com, StatsCrew.com, and MyHeritage.com.

Notes

1 “Murphey Currie of St. Louis Nationals at Fayetteville,” Wilmington (North Carolina) Morning Star, November 3, 1916: 8.

2 Although his middle name was originally spelled “Murphey,” the more common spelling eventually became “Murphy.” By the time our subject attended Davidson College, it also helped from him being confused with one Archibald Currie, a professor of political science and law at the same institution.

3 “Donaldson Defeats Raeford,” Fayetteville (North Carolina) Weekly Observer, April 5, 1911: 3.

4 By this time, he was referred to almost exclusively as Murphy.

5 “Diamond Dust,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 15, 1913: 3.

6 “Fairmont Takes Two Out of Three from Parkton,” The Robesonian (Lumberton, North Carolina), May 26, 1913: 2.

7 “Second No-Hit Game,” Charlotte Observer, June 19, 1913: 7.

8 “Pitchers’ Battle,” Charlotte Observer, June 18, 1913: 10.

9 “Laurinburg and Raeford,” Fayetteville Weekly Observer, July 9, 1913: 8.

10  “Red Springs 9; McCall 8,” Charlotte News and Observer, July 8, 1913: 3.

11 “Morganton Ties Red Springs Team,” Charlotte News and Observer, August 31, 1913: 14.

12 “Davidson Failed to Hit Shore and Lost,” Salisbury (North Carolina) Post, April 6, 1914: 6.

13 “Davidson Wants Carolina Scalp,” Charlotte Observer, April 19, 1914: 25.

14 “Davidson Wins Game,” The State (Columbia, South Carolina), April 25, 1914: 8; “Presbyterians Win,” Greensboro (North Carolina) Daily News, April 25, 1914: 6.

15 “Currie, for Raeford, Pitches No-Hit Game,” Charlotte News and Observer, May 22, 1914: 7.

16 “Raeford Takes Two,” Charlotte Observer, July 5, 1914: 25. The newspaper claimed it was Currie’s third no-hitter of the season.

17 “Pitches No-Hit Game,” Charlotte Daily Observer, July 11, 1914: 3.

18 “Sixth No-Hit Game,” News and Observer, July 16, 1914: 2. The newspaper’s claim that it was Currie’s sixth no-hitter of the season was mistaken.

19 “First Goes to Morganton by a Close Score,” Charlotte News, August 25, 1914: 10.

20 W.C. Dowd, Jr., “Raeford Evened Up with Morganton,” Charlotte News, August 26, 1914: 10.

21 New Players in Carolina League,” News and Observer, April 25, 1915: 3.

22 W.C. Dowd, Jr.,“Cross Fire,” Charlotte News, August 11, 1914: 6.

23 “Currie, North Carolina Semi-Pro Pitcher, Signed by McCormick,” Chattanooga Daily Times, August 15, 1914: 8.

24 “Currie’s Debut Very Promising,” Chattanooga News, September 10, 1916: 9. Currie attended Davidson, not Wake Forest as the paper asserted.

25 “Lookouts Take Final from Pels; Currie Makes Promising Debut,” Chattanooga News, September 10, 1916: 9.

26 “Currie’s Debut Very Promising.”

27 “Usual Jolly Final Game,” Chattanooga Daily Times, September 18, 1914: 10.

28 “Currie’s Debut Very Promising,” News and Observer, September 23, 1914: 7.

29 “Shut-Out for Cincinnati,” Chattanooga Daily Times, April 3, 1915: 8.

30 “Lookouts Lose Terrific Slugging Match to Chckasaws – Third Game of Series Today, Chattanooga Daily Times, April 16, 1915: 8.

31 “Manager Busch Gives Murph. Currie Release,” News and Observer, May 3, 1916: 8.

32 “Pitcher Murphey Currie ‘Winters’ in Cumberland,” Greensboro (North Carolina) Daily News, November 2, 1916: 3.

33 Roy L. Bishop, “Sports Comments,” (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, August 17, 1916: 4.

34 “Athletic News,” Columbia (South Carolina) Record, August 27, 1916: 10.

35 “Three of First Division Clubs Lose to Cards,” St. Louis Star, August 28, 1916: 11.

36 “Just Dope,” Charlotte News, September 22, 1916: 13.

37 “With the Alumni,” The Davidsonian (Davidson, North Carolina), November 8, 1916: 3.

38 “Cards Ask Waivers on Ten Players,” (New Orleans) Daily States, December 6, 1916: 13.

39 W.J. O’Conner, “Rickey Releases Pitcher Fincher to Portland Club,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 21, 1917: 26. He is listed only as “Currie” on Baseball-Reference.

40 “But Two Weeks Away, Debut of Pa’s Athletes,” World-Herald (Omaha), March 4, 1917: 3.

41 “Currie Almost Hurls No Hit Game, Not Quite,” World-Herald, May 15, 1917: 10; “Bears Make One Hit Off Currie,” Omaha Daily Bee, May 15, 1917: 10.

42 “Currie Leaves Omaha,” El Paso Herald, July 26, 1917: 9.

43 “Call of Dixie Proves Too Strong for Currie,” Omaha Daily Bee, July 8, 1917: Sports Section, 1; “Currie Quits Omaha,” Des Moines Register, July 15, 1917: 7.

44 “Names of Former Davidson Students Known to Be in Service,” The Davidsonian, January 16, 1918: 4.

45 “In and About the City,” News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), January 10, 1918: 10.

46 “The Curries at the Front,” Fayetteville Weekly Observer, February 13, 1918: 1.

47 “Cardinal Rookie, Now an Aviator, Pleased with His New Duties,” St. Louis Star, March 16, 1918: 11.

48 Letter from brother Spencer J. Currie, dated January 3, 1973, in Currie’s player file at the Hall of Fame. Also see “Chatham County Soldiers,” Chatham (North Carolina) Record, November 14, 1918: 3.

49 “Kansas City Gets Seven Cardinals for Joe Schultz,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 27, 1919: 18.

50 “Shipyard Defeats Y.M.C.A., 2 to 1,” Wilmington Morning Star, July 13, 1919: 3.

51 “Murphy Currie is Sent to the Texas,” Charlotte News, January 20, 1920: 11.

52 “A New Blue Team in Field,” Kansas City Star, January 16, 1921: 14.

53 “Blues Make Changes,” The State, January 17, 1921: 7.

54 “Prominent Young Couple Wed in Fayetteville,” Charlotte Sunday Observer, October 21, 1923: S2-1.

55 “Three Motorists Have a Miraculous Escape,” News and Observer, January 7, 1928: 2.

56 “Archibald M. Currie,” The Robesonian (Lumberton, North Carolina), June 19, 1939: 6.