James Patrick Murray (December 29, 1919 – August 16, 1998) was an American sportswriter. He worked at the Los Angeles Times from 1961 until his death in 1998, and his column was nationally syndicated. Among his many achievements was winning the NSSA's Sportswriter of the Year award 14 times (12 of those consecutively). In 1990, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his 1989 columns, and the Baseball Hall of Fame awarded him the J. G. Taylor Spink Award in 1987. Cited as an influence by countless sports journalists, Murray was a fixture at the L.A. Times for 37 years.