Matt Murray, a former standout athlete at Swampscott High School who pitched for the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox, has died at the age of 54 after complications from surgery.
Murray, who was born in Boston in 1970 before moving to Swampscott with his family as a child, was a resident of Calhoun, Ga., at the time of his death.
The Atlanta Braves drafted Murray in the second round of the 1988 entry draft (41st overall), after his junior year at Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Conn., where he transferred from Swampscott High School.
He was 17 when he was assigned to the Pulaski Braves in the rookie-level Appalachian League, where he appeared in 13 games and struck out 76 batters in 54 innings. In his third year in professional baseball, he played for the Braves affiliate in the Single-A South Atlantic League.
In August 1995 he made his major league debut for the Braves, before being traded to the Red Sox in August of that year.
Murray appeared in six major league games and tossed 14 innings to go with four strikeouts.
Childhood friend and teammate Derek January said it was a “terrible loss.”
“Matt and I played on every youth team together growing up from the time we were nine years old until we graduated high school,” January said. “He was a great athlete — a great baseball and football player… But he was also a dear, dear friend of mine.
“He was just a very captivating individual,” January added. “He lit up the room when he walked in, and it’s far too soon for him to be leaving us.”
Jimmy DeFelice said Murray “was a great father, friend and teammate.”
“I’m heartbroken — he was such a good friend, a great person, and a great father to his children,” Jeff January said. “He was a great husband, a great son to his late father (Gene), to his mother (Ann), and he was a great sibling to his brother (Chris)… I’m heartbroken for his family, I’m just devastated.”
Another childhood friend, Tony Nicosia, said that despite growing into different phases of their lives, they never lost contact.
“I met him and his family back in second grade, and when I met Matt, playing in recess, he was always a stand-out athlete from day one… Just an excellent quarterback and baseball player,” Nicosia said. “We were teammates through Little League, Babe Ruth, and into high school.
“I saw everything come to fruition later years when he became a star athlete,” Nicosia said. “We were in contact all the time in the last few years. He’d stop into Tony’s Pub to say ‘hi.’ He would always come back for a French onion soup, like we never left each other… He was a tremendous athlete, but a tremendous person. He was a role model for his community.”
