MILWAUKEE -- Pat Murphy has spent years carrying Bruce Springsteen with him, and on Wednesday morning that devotion finally came full circle in the form of a FaceTime call.
The Milwaukee manager saw a number with a 732 area code pop up on his phone, and when he answered, Springsteen was there.
“Hey,” Bruce Springsteen said nonchalantly. “I hear you and I have some connection.”
Murphy has made no secret of how much Springsteen has meant to him. The connection has shown up in his career, in the tattoo on his arm that reads “No Retreat, No Surrender,” and throughout the Brewers’ march to their first World Series appearance in 44 years. After Milwaukee clinched its NLCS victory over the two-time defending champion Dodgers, Murphy leaned on Springsteen’s “Last Man Standing” in his clubhouse message to the team.
“We have to be the last man standing,” he said that night.
Springsteen had apparently been paying attention. According to Murphy, he asked his assistant to track him down, and the call came the next morning.
Murphy said he wasn’t rattled once the conversation started.
“It was easy as you and I talking here,” he said, still taking in the moment.
His Springsteen story had already come up during the NLCS, when Murphy was asked about his fandom. He described seeing The River Tour in 1980 as the moment that turned him into a fan.
He also said he had chances to meet Springsteen backstage after those shows, but he passed on the quick handshake. Murphy wanted something more real than a rushed introduction; he wanted an actual conversation with the man whose music and life had meant so much to him.
Now he finally had one.
“I said, ‘Bro, you have impacted me incredibly,’” Murphy said, before adding with a laugh, “although I don’t think I called him bro.”
Murphy has long used Springsteen songs as team names, including squads he called “Thunder Road” and “Prove It All Night.”
This year, the Brewers are “Last Man Standing,” and their World Series trip gives that name a chance to mean something even bigger.
Springsteen, who is a Yankees fan, didn’t get into baseball talk, Murphy said.
“He didn’t ask if Miz [Jacob Misiorowski] can throw that speedball by ya,” Murphy joked. “But I told him we’ve got one last chance to make it real.”
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