Tribute to Jim Murray

Sports columnist inspired this rookie journalist

I have a big blue book titled "Sports Pages of the Los Angeles Times."

It contains replicas of the front page of the sports section for the past 100 years. A glance through its pages reveal the history of newspapers as much as the greatest events in sports.

RICK ALONZO

And every time I flip through that blue book, one thing jumps out at me.

Jim Murray's columns.

The legendary journalist died almost two weeks ago, and each day I'm beginning to understand a little more the loss we've suffered.

I grew up in Washington, where I read a guy named Jim. Jim Riley. Then I moved to Idaho at 14, where Howie Stalwick's mug stared me in the face. These guys worked, and still do, for papers with circulation figures that rival the Daily Forty-Niner's.

There was no Jim Murray for me.

Then in the summer of 1996, I moved to Long Beach. Although I read his columns for just a couple years, even this rookie sportswriter could see he had a style that was often imitated but never duplicated.

And now, when I pick up my blue book, I see Jim Murray's mug staring right at me. He started writing for The Times in 1961 and his last column ran the Sunday he died. In that time, he was voted national sportswriter of the year 12 consecutive times, 14 times overall in a span of 16 years.

He was also one of just four sportswriters to win a Pulitzer Prize.

In light of those accomplishments, anything I might have to say about the man is something like an altar boy praising the pope.

His quips, jabs and one-liners are the stuff of brilliance. As former sports editor of this paper, I know I'd love to be blessed with just a little of his unique vision, coke-bottle glasses and all.

Murray was particularly famous for his sarcastic barbs at cities across the country. He said of Spokane, Wash., site of 1997's NCAA women's volleyball Final Four, "The only trouble with Spokane, Wash., as a city is that there's nothing to do there after 10 o'clock. In the morning."

I worked in Spokane for a summer. Murray was absolutely right.

So as I flip through the pages of my blue book, there are his columns side by side with stories about the most significant events in sports.

The day after Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's home run record of 60 home runs in 1961, there was Murray's column.

When the Miami Dolphins completed their perfect season, 17-0, by knocking off the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII, there was Murray's column. He called the Dolphins "that funny little team with the sardines on its helmets ... "

When Reggie Jackson hammered three home runs, each on the first pitch, against the Dodgers in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, there was Murray's column.

When the Dodgers won the crown in the 1988 World Series, almost 30 years after he began working at The Times, there was Murray's column.

Although his writing was sharp and insightful (and that's like saying Nolan Ryan struck out a few guys), I'm equally impressed with the man's longevity. Maybe it's because I'm only 23 years old, but I've read similar words written by guys three times my age.

I have a blue book.

And every time I read its pages, I'm reminded that Jim Murray wrote for many years. And nobody wrote better.

Rick Alonzo is the former Sports Editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.