Brewers' Pat Murphy Makes History From a Hospital Bed With a Third Straight Manager of the Year Award

Some men celebrate the biggest honor of their careers with champagne. Pat Murphy celebrated his from a hospital bed.

The Milwaukee Brewers manager was named the National League Manager of the Year on Tuesday, the third straight season he has won the award, and the first time any manager in either league has won it three years in a row ^[1]. Murphy took the call with reporters from a hospital bed, a day after having hip replacement surgery ^[1][2].

He had picked the date for the operation about a month earlier, after looking at when the World Series was scheduled to end, and said he never expected the timing to line up with his team's run ^[1]. Asked how he was spending his recovery, Murphy kept it simple: "I've got nothing to do. I'm just sitting here." ^[1]

A Season for the Record Books

The award is voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America before the postseason begins ^[1], so it honors the regular season alone. Even so, the regular season was historic. Milwaukee led the major leagues with 103 wins, a franchise record ^[1].

Then came October. The Brewers swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series and beat the Tampa Bay Rays in five games to win the World Series, the first title in franchise history ^[1]. Milwaukee has now won the NL Central in each of Murphy's three seasons in charge ^[1].

The writers' award was not the first hardware of the fall. In October, Murphy was also named the Sporting News NL Manager of the Year for a third straight season, the first National League manager to win that honor three years running since Bobby Cox last did it in 2005 ^[3]. Two of his players, second baseman Brice Turang and pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, were named to the 2026 NL All-Star team ^[3].

In Rare Company

Only three other managers have won Manager of the Year three times with the same organization, and none of them did it in consecutive seasons: Bobby Cox with the Atlanta Braves, Terry Francona with Cleveland and Dusty Baker with the San Francisco Giants ^[1]. Cox is the only other manager to win the National League award in back-to-back years ^[1].

Murphy's run has been steady from the start. He was promoted from Milwaukee's bench coach after Craig Counsell left for the Chicago Cubs in November 2023, and his first team went 93-69 and won the division ^[4]. A year later he repeated as Manager of the Year, receiving 27 of the 30 first-place votes ^[5]. Now he has three, and a championship ring to go with them.

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A Life in the Game

Murphy's story is the kind baseball does not produce often anymore. He spent eight seasons on Counsell's staff before getting the top job, and he turns 68 later this month ^[1]. In August 2020, he survived a heart attack on the day of a Brewers workout ^[1]. He came back, kept coaching, and waited his turn.

That patience is worth pointing out at a time when so much of sports is about the quick fix and the loudest voice in the room. Murphy built his teams on preparation and trust, and his players have played hard for him every single season. Three straight division titles, a franchise record for wins and a parade in Milwaukee are the result.

The American League Winner

In the American League, Will Venable of the Chicago White Sox won the award after Chicago became the first team in major league history to reach the playoffs after back-to-back 100-loss seasons, finishing 84-78 ^[1]. It was a remarkable turnaround in its own right.

But Tuesday belonged to the man in the hospital bed. With a new hip, a World Series trophy and a third straight Manager of the Year award, Pat Murphy has given Milwaukee the best season in its history, and he did it the old-fashioned way.