By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
It was one of those times that may well be remembered as ‘’priceless” for Chris Sellman and his eight-year-old son Bobby Sellman.
The Geneseo father and son recently traveled to Atlanta, GA, to participate in the 2025 Dale Murphy 2025 MVP Experience.
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Like myself, there are some people not familiar with Dale Murphy, but through my conversations with Chris Sellman, I learned that Dale Murphy is a baseball icon who played for the Atlanta Braves from 1974-1991, is a member of the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame, with having his No. 3 uniform retired; being named a “5 Tool Player,” who won back-to-back MVP Awards, and holds the identity of being the youngest player ever to win consecutive MVP Awards.
For Sellman, the accolades and accomplishments of Dale Murphy rolled smoothly out of his mouth.
And that recent “once in a lifetime” experience for father and son began when dad heard about the MVP Experience on social media and decided he and Bobby would go…”It was a guys’ trip, a weekend trip,” he said.
Sellman has a vast collection of Dale Murphy baseball cards which he took on the trip and showed Murphy…”I was impressed that he took the time to go through every page of that three-ring notebook.”
Other highlights of the trip included attending an Atlanta Braves Sunday night baseball game against the Dodgers, which the Braves won, and Sellman said, “We were with Murphy and his wife Nancy in their suite with box seats, amenities included.”
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Prior to the game, there was lunch with Murphy at his restaurant, Murph’s, located near the stadium.
The guests were with Murphy and his for the entire day, without any staff, and in addition to attending the ball game, the hours were spent with photographs, Question and Answer Time; “Stump Dale” time, drawings for raffle prizes, and having items autographed (jerseys and baseball cards) which Chris and Bobby took with them to Atlanta.
A highlight for Bobby Sellman was when he was invited to sit with Murphy and draw the names in the raffle and Murphy gave young Sellman an autographed Dale Murphy bobblehead for his assistance.
Bobby Sellman has an infectious smile that did not go unnoticed by Murphy who continued to interact with the child throughout the day.
“We made it a father and son weekend,” Chris Sellman said, and added that the two took time to visit an escape room and went to an arcade to play some games….”It was a weekend we both enjoyed,” he said, adding that he knew his son took in the fact that meeting Dale Murphy was something special. “Bobby knew Dale Murphy was someone important and he was very aware of just how nice a man Dale Murphy is.”
Murphy and his wife host the MVP Experiences to raise money for the charities they support in Central America and Chris Sellman said the charities provide funds for underprivileged kids in Central America to be able to play baseball…”He is very hands-on involved and he and his wife travel there several times a year to work with the charities.”
