Two days before he died, Sean Murphy sent his mother a birthday card.
The A's minor league pitcher inscribed it with a sweet note about their long-ago conversations, told her that he loved her and shipped it via overnight mail from Arizona to Philadelphia. They spoke briefly the next day because she wanted to know why he spent $7.85 to mail a $2.99 card. He wanted to be sure it arrived in time, he told her."The last words he said to me before I hung up with him were `Mom, I'll call you in the morning and I'll sing Happy Birthday to you,''' Lorraine Murphy said.