For people around the country, Bill Murray is remembered for playing a variety of roles: buster of ghosts, assistant greenskeeper, military misfit, eccentric oceanographer, etc.
But these days, the native of Wilmette, Ill., has been playing another role: coolest minor league baseball owner in the world.
The only difference is that this time it's actually real. Murray co-owns the Charleston RiverDogs.
In another excellent edition of Amy K. Nelson's The Full Nelson, SB Nation's resident documentarian travels to Charleston, S.C., to introduce the world to a team owner that most players (and fans) can only dream of.
Murray was inducted into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame recently, and Nelson was there to capture some magic. The full video is below the fold:
For any Cubs fan (or anyone that's visited Wrigley Field in general), you kinda know what Murray is talking about when he gives listeners this story during his speech:
When I got into Wrigley Field and I went through the turnstile, just before I hit the stairs that would take me up to the field level, my brother Brian said, 'Billy, wait.' And he covered my eyes, and he walked me up the steps and then he took my hands away, and I saw the most beautiful building I had ever seen in my life: a field of green and a wall of green and a scoreboard of green, and fans of all colors. And, my heart just lept and I thought, 'Ah, this is where I'm supposed to be.'
Yeah, that was awesome. There's a whole bunch of other great stuff in the video, too, if you can find five minutes in your day. (If you're reading me, you have five minutes.)
Beyond all of the factors that make Murray such a great owner, the thing that stands out above everything else is his obvious passion for the game. For someone who will, "die a Cubs fan," maybe all that passion will one day culminate with a World Series championship. I'm not sure that Charleston winning the Sally League would do it for him.