Bob Murphy's family honored by Mets' tribute to him at Citi Field

The call came from an unrecognized  number with a 203 area code. Kelly Murphy ignored it. Later, the caller tried again.

“I was like, who in the world can this be?” she recalled. “So I called back. He said, ‘Is this Kelly Murphy?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘Well, this is Steve Cohen.’ ”

The Mets owner was calling to deliver the news that the team planned to honor her father, Bob Murphy, an original Mets announcer, at the home opener.

“Very exciting,” Kelly said. “Very thrilled, very honored. For us to have this honor, and to honor my dad like that, it’s so meaningful for all of us.”

Kelly, who lives in Huntington, her brother, Brian, who lives in Kings Park, and her sister Kasey will throw out ceremonial first pitches on Friday, a day late with Thursday's planned opener postponed due to weather.

The Mets also will unveil a tribute to Murphy alongside that of his former partner, Ralph Kiner, in the area in Citi Field’s rafters where retired numbers are displayed.

It was the Kiner tribute, which came after his death in 2014, that indirectly led to the call from Cohen to Kelly about a month ago.

SNY’s Gary Cohen, Murphy’s partner in the radio booth from 1989 to 2003, noted at a Mets Hall of Fame committee meeting that Murphy did not have one.

“I feel it's totally appropriate that Ralph be honored that way; but if so, Murph should be honored the same way,” Cohen said.

“He was such a linchpin there for 42 years. His is the most identifiable voice when it comes to Mets baseball and always has been and always will be.

“It was an oversight. Clearly, if Ralph was going to go up there, Murph should have gone up there, too. I'm glad that it's finally happened.”

Murphy, who died in 2004, was a member of the Mets' original 1962 TV/radio team with Kiner and Lindsey Nelson.

“It was surreal to work with him,” Cohen said. “From the time I can possibly remember hearing baseball, it was always Bob Murphy's voice. Lindsey, too, and Ralph, but mostly Bob’s that I listened to throughout my childhood.

“The reality of sitting in the booth next to him never ceased to be amazing to me over the course of the 15 years we worked together. It was beyond comprehension.

“It was not really something that made sense to my 6-year-old brain. So I had to pinch myself repeatedly.”

Cohen said the best thing he learned from Murphy professionally was “how to build the moment, how to set the scene, how to bring people into anticipation of the big moment. He was just a master at that.”

Both Kelly and Brian Murphy said it never had occurred to them that  their father should have a place of honor if Kiner had one.

But they are pleased it is happening. As for those first pitches, they have been practicing. “My goal is to look better than both my brother and sister,” Kelly said.

Growing up a child of Bob Murphy meant being close to the game for a lifetime, both in person and remotely.

“I was very fortunate growing up,” Brian said. “I was able to go to bed at night with a transistor radio under my pillow and listen to my father.”

Being Bob Murphy’s child also meant a lifetime of listening to Bob Murphy impersonations. “I cannot tell you how many I’ve heard in my lifetime,” Kelly said. “It’s funny.”

Kelly said her memories of her father include him always stopping to sign autographs for fans outside the ballpark.

“That was what he was all about,” she said. “He saw it as a privilege. That made me proud and happy to be a part of that.

“He was always so positive about everything. Not only in the booth, but outside of the booth as well. When he said, ‘The sun is shining, the sky is blue, it's a beautiful day for baseball,’ that was really who he was.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.