Glew: Brewers' WS-winning manager Murphy key reason Robinson made it to big leagues

Great Lake Canadians director of baseball operations Chris Robinson (Dorchester, Ont.) played for Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy with the triple-A Tucson Padres in 2013.

October 29, 2026

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

It would've been difficult to find someone in Southwestern Ontario who was cheering harder for Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy to win the World Series than Chris Robinson.

The former big league catcher, and now director of baseball operations for the Great Lake Canadians in Dorchester, Ont., played for Murphy on the San Diego Padres' triple-A affiliate in Tucson in 2013.

"I had Murph as my manager from July until the end of September [in 2013] and he was the most influential person on my baseball career," said Robinson in a phone interview on Wednesday. "He's the reason I got to the big leagues . . . He pounded the table for me loud enough for someone to listen and I owe him a lot."

In 2013, a then 29-year-old Robinson was in his ninth minor league season. He had enjoyed a solid professional career but he had yet to receive a big league call-up. He had told his wife, Amy, who was at home in Dorchester with two young twins, that this season would be his last.

He began the campaign with the Baltimore Orioles' triple-A Norfolk Tides and was contemplating hanging up his playing spikes mid-season before his agent Bob Lisanti, who had played for Murphy at the University of Notre Dame, orchestrated a trade that would see Robinson go to the Padres' organization.

Robinson had to OK the deal and after a lengthy, late-night phone conversation with his wife, he agreed to head to Tucson.

After his first week with his new club, he was ready to retire, going so far as to call his agent to tell him this. But within 48 hours of that phone call, the Padres promoted Rene Rivera, who had been Tuscon's regular catcher, and Robinson began playing every day, and he discovered he loved playing for his quirky new manager.

"Murph was just the best," said Robinson. "I started to think this was going to be a pretty good way to end things . . . Murph was just such a character."

That much was evident on Canada Day that year when Murphy announced his plan for that day's game.

"It was Canada Day and we're in Sacramento about as far as you can be from Canada. Murph walks into the room that day and he says, 'New rule today: you don't address anyone on the field without using a strong Canadian accent or using some sort of hockey reference,’" recalled Robinson.

"And he was managing from the dugout during that game because he was wearing a boot. He had hurt his foot, so he couldn't coach third base. And he sat on the top ledge in the dugout that night and just absolutely wore this poor umpire out in triple-A. And everything was with Bobby Orr or Gordie Howe with some ridiculous Canadian accent. He didn't stop the whole night. And the umpire was like, 'What is talking about?’ And I'm back there thinking, 'This guy's crazy, but this is the best.' And it went on the whole game and it was everything that he could pull from his mind that had to do with hockey . . . That was just Murph being Murph."

Murphy and Robinson shared a gritty approach to the game and were both intensely focused on winning. And Murphy grew to trust Robinson so much that he would call his veteran catcher into his office and ask him who they needed to go trade for. One time, Robinson suggested his friend Scott Moore and the team went out and acquired him.

"One of the biggest things I remember about Murph is that he was on the phone all day," recalled Robinson.

Robinson wondered who Murphy was calling all the time and it turns out it was largely former players. Robinson says one day Murphy would be talking to a former player who was going through a divorce and the next, he'd be congratulating an ex-player whose wife just had a baby.

"I could text Murph right now and he'd text me back," said Robinson. "That's the type of person he is. And I'm an absolute nothing in his story, but that's the type of person you're dealing with, with Pat Murphy. He's on a different level when it comes to connecting with people."

You will find Chris Robinson (Dorchester, Ont.) and Milwaukee Brewers World Series-winning manager Pat Murphy in this 2013 Tucson Padres team photo.

The fact that Robinson batted .316 in 39 games and served as a veteran leader behind the plate also wouldn't have hurt his relationship with Murphy, who was responsible for delivering the news to Robinson that he was being called up by the Padres, his first promotion to the big leagues, in early September 2013.

In late August, Robinson had been sent to double-A San Antonio and was told to be ready for a call-up when Padres catcher Nick Hundley's wife went into labour. But when that didn't happen after three or four days, Robinson was returned to Tucson where he resigned himself to the fact that he may never receive a big league call-up.

A couple of days later, however, Robinson woke up and had a message from Kai Murphy, Murphy's 13-year-old son, on his phone.

"The message was, 'Robby, I can't find my dad. He didn't come home after the game last night. You're one of his guys, so I didn't know if you knew where he went?'" shared Robinson.

"So, I called Kai and I was like, 'Is it all good? Did your dad come home?' And he was like, 'No, he didn't come home . . . I woke up this morning and he wasn't here. He just left a note that said, 'Brush your teeth. Have a big breakfast and when you're done, call Robby and tell him he's going to the big leagues.' So then I just stopped and I heard Murph in the background saying, 'I wanted you to remember it. I wanted you to remember it and I wanted Kai involved in this one.' I was just like, 'Murph, I've been in the minor leagues for nine years, you could've emailed me and I would've remembered it.'"

"So Kai Murphy, not Pat Murphy was the one who told me I was going to the big leagues."

Robinson would play in eight games for the Padres that September and belt a pinch-hit, two-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks on September 25, 2013.

For that opportunity, Robinson will be forever grateful to Murphy, and he's not at all surprised that his former manager is now a World Series-winning skipper.

"Murph is the master of putting people in positions where they will be really successful," said Robinson. "He was also a master at making you feel good at what you do."

So it's easy to see why Robinson was cheering for Murphy and the Brewers this postseason.

"I saw Murph had his family up there with him [at some of the World Series press conferences] . . . That's not a show. That's Murph," said Robinson. "He plays to the beat of his own drum. If they were to say, 'You shouldn't have your family up there.' He would say, 'I don't care. This is what I'm doing.' He's not a disrespectful, defiant guy. It's just Murph being Murph."

And "Murph" is someone Robinson calls "one of his favourite people in the world."

"He took me under his wing . . . He's just a special person in terms of being able to read people, to support people and get the most of out of people. I wanted to run through a wall for him," said Robinson. "And I still would."