Pat Murphy
Pat Murphy

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy made history Tuesday night, becoming the first manager to win Manager of the Year three straight seasons. He accepted the honor from a hospital bed a day after hip replacement surgery.

Murphy, 67, won the National League award from the Baseball Writers' Association of America after leading the Brewers to the first World Series title in franchise history. No manager in either league had won three straight since the writers began giving the award in 1983.

The Chicago White Sox's Will Venable won the American League award after leading one of baseball's biggest turnarounds.

Murphy received 20 of 30 first-place votes and 124 points. He was the only manager named on all 30 ballots.

He was recovering at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee from surgery on his right hip when he spoke with MLB Network before and after the announcement. Murphy had scheduled the operation for a date safely after the World Series, and the timing worked out when the Brewers won the championship late last month.

MLB.com said he was, as far as anyone knows, the first winner to accept the award from a hospital bed. It said he had ground through the 2026 season in pain and was getting his lower body "put back together."

The Brewers won 103 games during the regular season and went 11-2 in the postseason. Murphy is the first manager since the White Sox's Ozzie Guillen in 2005 to win the World Series and Manager of the Year in the same season. It is only the ninth time a manager has done both in the same year.

Murphy also joined an exclusive group. He is the 10th manager to win the award at least three times. His three wins tie the record for the most Manager of the Year awards with a single franchise, a mark shared by Bobby Cox, who won three of his four with the Atlanta Braves.

Murphy took over in Milwaukee before the 2024 season, when Craig Counsell left for the Chicago Cubs. A longtime college coach and former Brewers bench coach, he led the team to a 93-69 record in his first season. The Brewers went 97-65 last year, the best record in the majors, before losing in the NL Championship Series.

Murphy, known for his colorful personality and fondness for quoting Bruce Springsteen, turns 68 later this month.

Venable won the AL award in his second season with the White Sox. He led Chicago to a 24-win improvement and the team's first playoff appearance since 2021. Venable, a former major league outfielder and Texas Rangers coach, credited his players' resilience. He said the team "just never backed down" during the season.

The White Sox had been one of the worst teams in baseball before the turnaround. Venable's success marked a rapid rebuild for a franchise that endured a record-setting losing season in 2024.

MLB's awards week continues with the Cy Young Awards and the Most Valuable Player Awards later this week.