To some, Murphy’s newfound power echoes Gene Tenace, the Oakland Athletics catcher, who created a stir with four home runs in the 1972 World Series, winning the Most Valuable Player Award of the series. Tenace had been a part-time player, never hitting more than seven homers in a season.

His subsequent career showed that the display had not been a fluke, as he wound up with five 20-homer seasons and 201 home runs over all.

Tenace turned 26 in October 1972 and had never had a shot as a regular starter, so the potential for upside was there. At 30, with six full-time seasons under his belt, it is unlikely that Murphy will suddenly become the next Howard Johnson or even Ed Kranepool. Using the simple Marcel forecasting system, Baseball-Reference expects Murphy to hit 11 home runs next year.

But Murphy has earned his place in baseball folklore, no matter where his career goes from here.