John Edward Murphy, a Major League baseball player known better as "Honest Eddie", returned to his birthplace, Hancock, on Sunday, November 1, as a bronze statue in his honor was dedicated on the Town Square.

"Honest" Eddie Murphy played for The Philadelphia Athletics, Pittsburg Pirates and Chicago White Sox. In 1918 Babe Ruth and Murphy had nearly identical batting averages. Only 3 percentage points would separate them. Ruth finished the season with .300 and Murphy with .297.

Present for the 2 p.m. ceremony were members of the Hancock Partners, who constructed the Town Square park, which has become the center of activity in the Village, members of the Town Council and Village Board of Trustees, Father Daniel Quinn, Sullivan County historian John Conway, family members of the famed ballplayer, members of the general public and Judge Herbert Buckley and family, who purchased the handsome statue for display.

Honest Eddie Murphy, a player for several big League teams, earned his nickname following the infamous "Black Sox" scandal in 1919 when eight members of the Chicago White Sox team, including famed ballplayer Shoeless Joe Jackson, conspired to "throw" the World Series. Honest Eddie played his best, earning a permanent spot in baseball history, and a check from White Sox owner Charles Comiskey for $1,500 - the difference between the losers and winners share of the World Series bonus.

Partners President Jerry DaBrescia opened the ceremony by noting that it was the one hundredth anniversary of the scandal, which rocked the country.

Father Dan offered a prayer for the ceremony, and told the audience that he had searched St. Paul’s parish records, and found the entry for John Edward Murphy. Children receive " influence from many directions," he said, but it "seems to have stuck in this gentleman." He called the ballplayer an "inspiration to endurance and to honesty," and that he had tried to "live out the Commandments."

Cole McNeely of Bold Gold Media recited the James Earl Jones speech from Field of Dreams that recounts the enduring appeal of baseball in America.

The main speaker was Sullivan county historian John Conway, who noted wistfully that Sullivan county did not have a native born famous baseball player to laud, calling Hancock "very fortunate to have Eddie Murphy to call its own."

Conway noted that baseball and America "led parallel lives," offering escape to those willing to work for it, calling baseball a "manifestation of the American Dream."

"But that dream had its dark side - gambling," he said, The details of the scandal are still being debated, he noted, but it changed baseball for the better. "Baseball discovered a wrong and corrected it. That is very American."

Town of Hancock Supervisor W. Jerry Vernold presented a certificate to the Murphy family, and Murphy’s grandson Eddie Murphy, who lives in Carbondale, PA.

Murphy thanked Hancock for its honor of his grandfather, who he remembered as a "nice, quiet man who gave respect" and received it.

Honest Eddie’s family moved away from Hancock when he was a child, but he still stopped off to visit the hometown when he traveled through the area, especially on the way to Cooperstown ceremonies.

Judge Buckley thanked the community members who had helped install the statue, including Cutler Construction, Bill Gross, Aaron Polomcean, Rodney Geer, plus Andrew Gross for landcaping work around the statue. A heavy base of crushed stone and concrete was required to hold the bronze statue, which was cast from a photograph of the ballplayer, and which will, in time, weather to the same green cast as the Civil War statue in the park (also donated by Judge Buckley). Judge Buckley acquired the statue from a private collector, and bore all the costs of purchase and installation, while noting that several of those who helped had donated their time. He also thanked Jerry DaBrescia, who had previously said he wanted a statue of Eddie Murphy for the Town Square.

With that, two of Judge buckley’s grandchildren, Sydney Buckley and Harrison Bishop, helped him pull the covering off the statue, and Honest Eddie took his place in Hancock.

A reception followed at the Hancock House Hotel, where presumably several congregated in the Honest Eddie taproom.

Reprinted from The Hancock Herald Nov.6,2019