September 2, 2013: John Ryan Murphy records first major-league hit during Yankees’ rain-delayed win over White Sox

Each night followed the same routine. Carolina and Mark Murphy logged onto MiLB.com, expecting to see their son, John Ryan Murphy, behind the plate for the New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

But on Saturday, August 31, 2013, the lineup told a different story. Murphy was listed as a late scratch. Instead, he was headed to the Bronx to begin his major-league career.1

Selected by the Yankees with the 42nd overall pick in the June 2009 amateur draft, Murphy climbed the organization’s minor-league ladder and earned a promotion to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in June 2013. He hit .270 with six home runs and 21 RBIs in 59 games for the RailRiders, putting him on the doorstep of the major leagues.

That opportunity arrived when Murphy was added to the Yankees’ roster as a September call-up. Upon learning of the promotion, Carolina and Mark traveled from Bradenton, Florida, to New York and were in attendance at the September 1 game against the Baltimore Orioles. Murphy did not appear in the Yankees’ 7-3 loss.

The next day, Labor Day, the Yankees hosted the Chicago White Sox. New York entered the game 3½ games out of the second American League wild-card spot, while Chicago owned the league’s second-worst record.2 As with the previous day’s game, Carolina and Mark Murphy were in the crowd at Yankee Stadium.

Phil Hughes, who had been with the Yankees since 2007, took the mound in what would prove to be his final season in pinstripes. In the second half of the 2013 season, he posted a 6.65 ERA over 43 innings, with opposing hitters recording a .931 OPS.3

On this afternoon, however, Hughes was sharp early. He needed just 10 pitches to retire the side in the first inning, getting Alejandro De Aza on a fly ball to center, Gordon Beckham on a fly to right, and Alexei Ramírez on a line drive to right.

On the mound for the White Sox was 24-year-old Jose Quintana, whose season stood in sharp contrast to Hughes’s. He entered the game 7–4 and finished the year strongly, pitching 200 innings across 33 starts while going 9–7 with 164 strikeouts and a 3.51 ERA.4

He entered the game 7–4 and finished the year logging 200 innings across 33 starts while posting a 9–7 record, 164 strikeouts, and a 3.51 ERA.

But the Yankees got to Quintana early. Brett Gardner led off the first inning with a double, and Derek Jeter followed with an RBI single. The hit snapped Jeter’s 0-for-14 skid. Later in the game, Jeter recorded the 3,313th hit of his illustrious career, tying Eddie Collins for ninth place on the all-time hits list.5 It was a rare bright moment in 2013 for Jeter, who appeared in just 17 games during the injury-plagued season and batted a career-low .190.6

Hughes allowed a leadoff single to Adam Dunn in the second inning before retiring Paul Konerko. Moments later, heavy rain began to fall, forcing a stoppage of play.

After a one-hour, 53-minute delay, the game resumed, but without both starting pitchers.7

Play resumed with Dunn on first base, and David Huff taking over on the mound for New York.8 Huff struck out Avisail García and induced Conor Gillaspie to ground out, ending the inning.

Dylan Axelrod took over pitching duties for Chicago.9 He kept the Yankees off the board through the next two innings, maintaining the 1-0 deficit and setting the stage for a pivotal fourth inning.

Alex Rodríguez, playing while appealing a 211-game suspension through the end of the 2014 season for his links to performance-enhancing drugs, opened the bottom of the inning with a double to right.10 He held at second on Vernon Wells’ infield single back to Axelrod. Curtis Granderson walked to load the bases. Mark Reynolds drove in the first run with a single, and Austin Romine followed with a two-run single to center. Gardner drove in another run with a double to right, and Jeter added an RBI infield single to make it 6-0.

Seven consecutive Yankees reached base, and five runs scored, before Robinson Canó made the first out with a pop-up to second.

The inning continued when Alfonso Soriano lined a double to left field, driving home Gardner. Following a dropped foul pop by rookie catcher Josh Phegley, Rodríguez drew a walk, bringing Axelrod’s afternoon to an end. The right-hander lasted just 2⅓ innings and was charged with eight runs (six earned) on eight hits and two walks. Two inherited runners also came around to score after his departure.

Rookie Jake Petricka took over for Chicago but the inning continued to spiral.11 Wells reached on a throwing error by first baseman Dunn, allowing Jeter and Soriano to score. The Yankees were finally slowed by a pair of force plays, but the damage was done.

New York sent eight runs across the plate, on seven hits, aided by two errors, pushing the score to 9–0.12

Konerko homered to left on the first pitch he saw in the seventh from Huff, a 401-foot drive that accounted for Chicago’s lone run.

Konerko’s blast was the 432nd home run of the 17-year-veteran’s career. He passed Cal Ripken Jr., to move into sole possession of 44th place on the all-time home run list.13

After eight innings, the Yankees maintained a 9–1 lead.

David Purcey, who had pitched a scoreless seventh for the White Sox, returned to the mound in the bottom of the eighth and with two outs, Murphy pinch-hit for Canó. It was his first major-league at-bat at 22 years, 112 days old.14

Murphy worked the count to 3-and-1 and hit a sharp ground ball toward third base. Gillaspie backhanded it but could not complete the transfer, allowing Murphy to reach on an infield single. In front of a crowd of 40,125, he had his first major-league hit.

Cameras quickly found the section where Murphy’s family were seated. Cheers erupted and tears were visible throughout the group. Carolina stood with her camera in hand, capturing every second of a moment years in the making.15

Cameras quickly found the section where Murphy’s support system had gathered. Among them were his parents, Carolina and Mark, his sister Meghan, and childhood friend Michael Xirinachs. Cheers erupted and tears were visible throughout the group. Carolina stood with her camera in hand, capturing every second of a moment years in the making.

Pinch-hitter Ichiro Suzuki was retired on a fly ball to end the inning after a 12-pitch at-bat, stranding Murphy at first.

Murphy did not remain in the game. Instead, David Adams took over at second base and assumed Canó’s spot in the lineup.

Adam Warren was summoned to close out the game for the Yankees.16 He retired Ramírez on a fly ball and induced Dunn to ground out unassisted at first. After walking Konerko, Warren recorded the final out when García flied out to center, sealing the Yankees’ 9–1 victory.

The win lifted the Yankees to 73–64, moving them to within 2½ games of the Tampa Bay Rays for the second Wild Card spot, with just one other team to pass to reach the postseason.

“I feel a lot better,” manager Joe Girardi said after the game about his team’s playoff chances.17

Murphy acknowledged the nerves that accompanied his first trip to the plate. “I was pretty much nervous all the way until I got in the box,” he said, “so I made sure I took the first pitch instead of swinging at it.”18

Girardi presented the family with the game’s lineup card. “We had the opportunity to thank him, and he told us that he was excited to have J.R. up here,” Carolina said.19

The Yankees manager then turned to Murphy and added, “You’re a major-leaguer now, so dinner is on you.”20

Murphy appeared in 16 games as a September call-up, batting .154. On September 26 against Tampa Bay, he caught the final pitch of Hall of Fame-bound reliever Mariano Rivera’s career.  New York finished 85–77, placing third in the AL East, 12 games behind the division-winning Boston Red Sox. They failed to reach the postseason for just the second time in 19 years.21

Murphy split 2014 between New York and Triple A,22 then spent the entire 2015 season with the Yankees before being traded to the Minnesota Twins in November for Aaron Hicks.23 He later played with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Pittsburgh Pirates. He also had a brief stint with the Atlanta Braves in 2019, appearing in one game on September 24 after being acquired from Arizona on July 31.

Over eight major-league seasons, Murphy appeared in 284 games, collecting 146 hits, including 32 doubles and 18 home runs, while driving in 61 runs and finishing his career with a .215 batting average.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Keith Thursby.

Photo credit: John Ryan Murphy, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and MLB.com.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2013/B09020NYA2013.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA201309020.shtml

Notes

1 John Lembo, “Bradenton’s Murphy a Hit in MLB Debut,” Bradenton (Florida) Herald, September 5, 2013: C1.

2 Associated Press, “Derek Jeter Snaps Slump as Yankees Batter White Sox,” ESPN, September 2, 2013, https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap/_/gameId/330902110

3 Chris Kirby, “Yankees 2013 Roster Report Card: Phil Hughes,” Pinstripe Alley, October 14, 2013, https://www.pinstripealley.com/yankees-roster-report-card/2013/10/14/4832426/yankees-2013-roster-report-card-phil-hughes. Hughes finished the season with a 4–14 record and a 5.19 ERA. He was granted free agency by the Yankees on October 31, 2013, before joining the Minnesota Twins on November 30, 2013, signing a three-year contract worth $24 million.

4 Quintana’s 17 no-decisions were the most among Major League starters in 2013. In March 2014, he agreed to a five-year, $26.5-million extension with the White Sox.

5 Associated Press, “Determination and drive,” Syracuse (New York) Post-Standard, September 3, 2013: C4.

6Jeter returned for his final season in 2014, capping a remarkable 20-year career spent entirely with the Yankees (1995–2014). As of 2026, he ranks sixth on MLB’s all-time hits list with 3,465, holds the franchise records for games played (2,747) and at-bats (11,195), and ranks second in Yankees history with 1,923 runs scored.

7 “Derek Jeter Snaps Slump as Yankees Batter White Sox.”

8 David Huff was claimed off waivers by the Yankees on May 25. With Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he appeared in 13 games (12 starts), going 1–6 with one save and a 3.84 ERA over 68 innings. He split the season between Cleveland and New York, appearing in 14 major-league games (two starts) and finishing 3–1 with a 5.50 ERA across 37⅔ innings.

9 Dylan Axelrod went 3–8 with a 5.76 ERA (68 earned runs in 106⅓ innings) over 20 starts for the White Sox and 1–3 with a 5.32 ERA (13 earned runs in 22 innings) in 10 relief appearances. Chicago went 7–13 in his starts. Axelrod posted a 4.03 ERA at U.S. Cellular Field (27 earned runs in 60⅓ innings), compared to a 7.15 ERA on the road.

10 Cash Kruth, “A-Rod Welcomed Back by Yanks in Season Debut,” MLB.com, August 6, 2013, https://www.mlb.com/news/alex-rodriguez-welcomed-back-by-yankees-in-season-debut/c-55994230. In early August 2013, MLB suspended Alex Rodríguez for 211 games, covering the remainder of the 2013 season and the entire 2014 season, for his involvement in the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal. Rodríguez appealed the suspension and was permitted to continue playing through the end of the 2013 season. In January 2014, an arbitrator reduced the suspension to 162 games for the full 2014 season and postseason. Rodríguez initially challenged the ruling in federal court but dropped the lawsuits in early February 2014, accepting the suspension.

11 Jake Petricka was recalled by the White Sox on August 17 and made his major-league debut on August 22 at Kansas City. He made six consecutive scoreless appearances, totaling nine innings, from September 2–15. His season concluded on September 29 (his 16th and final appearance), when he pitched the 8th inning in a 1-4 home loss to the Kansas City Royals.

12 It was the team’s most productive inning since October 1, 2012.

13 Paul Konerko hit only seven more home runs in the major leagues after this game. He retired following the 2014 season with 439 career home runs. As of 2026, he ranks 46th on Major League Baseball’s all-time home run list.

14 Murphy’s appearance made him the 52nd player used by the Yankees in 2013, breaking the franchise record set in 2005 and equaled in 2008. The Yankees fielded the oldest roster in the majors that season (average age ~31.9 years), and the combination of age and injuries likely contributed to the record number of players used.

15 MLBGlobal13, “2013/09/02 Murphy’s First MLB Hit,” YouTube, September 2, 2013, video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0nGFBdVYNE.

16 In 2013, Adam Warren earned his first career spot on an Opening Day roster and went on to post a 3–2 record with a 3.39 ERA over 77 innings across two stints with the Yankees, from April 1 to June 14 and again from June 18 through September 29. He made two starts, going 1–0 with a 2.25 ERA in eight innings, while appearing primarily in relief. In 32 bullpen outings, he finished 2–2 with a 3.52 ERA over 69 innings.

17 “Determination and drive.”

18 YESNetwork, “J.R. Murphy on His First Major League Hit,” YouTube, September 5, 2013, video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpNnYSdMi-A.

19 “Bradenton’s Murphy a Hit in MLB Debut.”

20 “Bradenton’s Murphy a Hit in MLB Debut.”

21 The White Sox, meanwhile, concluded the season at 63–99, finishing fifth in the AL Central, 30 games behind the first-place Detroit Tigers. It marked the third-worst record in MLB that year and only the fifth time in franchise history that Chicago finished with 98 or more losses.

22 Before the 2014 season, Murphy made a small but meaningful change, asking to be identified by his full given name, John Ryan, rather than J.R., the name he had used throughout the first five years of his professional career. “I’ve always been John Ryan to my family,” he explained. “It was only a baseball thing that they shortened my name to J.R.” The change reflected the name his parents had long used to distinguish him from his father, John Mark. Andrew Simon and Tim Healey, “Baseball Players Who Changed Their Names,” MLB.com, February 7, 2019, https://www.mlb.com/news/baseball-players-who-changed-their-names-c303657574.

23 Bryan Hoch, “Yankees Acquire Hicks from Twins for Murphy,” MLB.com, November 11, 2015, https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-get-aaron-hicks-for-john-ryan-murphy/c-157073394. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman described the deal as “an independent, straight up, good old-fashioned baseball trade — a lot of talent for a lot of talent.”