Brewers manager Pat Murphy explains disdain for one specific postseason tradition

As fans who attend or watch the MLB playoffs are aware, before Game 1 of each series, each team’s roster of players and coaches is introduced one by one as they line up along the chalk on both sides of the field. At the end, each team’s manager is introduced, and it is tradition for each skipper to shake his players’ hands as he makes his way down the line.

But Murphy did not do that, and he has never done that. Even though some players reached out their hands for a shake, the Brewers manager kept his eyes forward and walked stoically down the line.

On Sunday, he revealed why. According to Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, Murphy said:

"It’s tradition. I’ve done it for 10 years now whenever we’ve had introductions. I just think it’s — I call it ‘happy horse manure.’ It sounds better when I use the other word, but I’m not going to use it because I don’t use that kind of language in a public setting.

"You go down the line and shake their hands, and then they go warm up and they come in the dugout and you shake their hands and do some crazy handshake with them; you know what I mean? This is a lot of happy horse [manure]. Let’s play the game.

"So it’s kind of tradition, and if you remember way back, I don’t know what year, [former Brewers shortstop Orlando] Arcia, like, punched me really hard in the chest and almost knocked me down. ‘Yeli’ [Christian Yelich] is kind of doing that. But he knows it [is coming]. Some players, like [Andrew] Vaughn was so sincere. He didn’t know it. Some guys forget.

"But I never go down and shake their hands. I just go right to the line. I didn’t know you noticed. I didn’t think anybody noticed."

McCalvy also notes that the gruff Murphy has a similar attitude about birthdays, and fans became aware of this fact earlier this season when he playfully and publicly chided his team for singing "Happy Birthday" to FanDuel reporter Sophia Minnaert during a game. He called it "unprofessional."

It should be noted, though, that his comments regarding the birthday song and shaking his players' hands were made with a hint of a grin on his face. To be sure, Murphy is all business, but he is not just a "grumpy old man." He simply does things his own way. And the Brewers are where they are because of that.