Thomas Andrew Murphy (born December 30, 1945) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher.

Murphy hit the ground running in his first assignment in professional baseball with the Midwest League Quad Cities Angels.

In eight games with the El Paso Sun Kings, Murphy maintained a 2.76 ERA to earn a second promotion to the triple A Pacific Coast League's Seattle Angels, where he would finish out the 1967 season.

After striking out seven in a no decision in his major league debut,[1] Murphy earned a complete game victory over the New York Yankees in his second start.

He also hit his only career home run off the Milwaukee Brewers' Lew Krausse Jr.[6] The wheels came off for Murphy in 1971.

In 1972, Murphy appeared in six games for the Angels, all in relief, when he was traded to the Kansas City Royals for Bob Oliver.

[10] Despite the institution of the designated hitter in the American League in 1973, Murphy had two at bats on June 12, 1974 in an extra innings game between the Brewers and Royals.

A complete game loss to the Montreal Expos on August 2[12] followed by poor outings against the New York Mets[13] and Cincinnati Reds[14] led to him being moved to the bullpen toward the end of the season.

[15] For the 1974 season, Brewers manager Del Crandall and pitching coach Al Widmar converted Murphy into a full-time reliever.

From July 8 through August 8, Murphy pitched twenty innings in which he gave up only seven hits and did not give up a run.

He suffered his tenth loss of the season in a seventeen inning marathon with the Baltimore Orioles when Brewers third baseman Don Money misplayed a ground ball (no error was charged on the play).

[18] In what was unquestionably his best season as a reliever, he led the American League with 66 games closed, and was second in the AL with twenty saves.

He was hit hard, and took a loss at the hands of the Yankees in his first appearance of the 1976 season,[19] but settled down somewhat from there (18 IP, 11 ER) when he and pitcher turned outfielder Bobby Darwin were traded to the Boston Red Sox for 1975 World Series hero Bernie Carbo at the June trade deadline.

He gave up a single to the first batter he faced (Sal Bando) and hit Gene Tenace with a pitch to load the bases.

Once Víctor Cruz joined the club in mid June, Murphy shifted into more of a long reliever role.