40 in 25: Tom Murphy

The interior of the Lazy L Saloon is dark, save for the slashes of light filtering in between slats of the boarded up windows. Dust hovers in the air of those beams and coats overturned chairs that sit atop empty tables. The once-polished wood bar lists toward the door, victimized by the floorboards that have given up all pretense of uniformity. A breeze floats through a broken window on the left like a sigh, lifting the sun-curled edges of the poster hanging behind the bar.

It’s not unusual for players to be more or less absent from our view until the start of spring training.