I saw BM play a lot for the Cubs in the late 70's.....batted between Bill Buckner and Dave Kingman ....... He was a great player.
A few interesting things about Bobby Murcer from Wikipedia,,,,,,,
A shortstop in the minor leagues, Murcer was slated to be the Yankees' shortstop but ended up being the center fielder following in the footsteps of Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio. Almost anyone would suffer in comparison to those members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, especially his fellow Oklahoman Mantle, but Murcer did well enough during the years the Yankees finished in the second division to become one of the team's most popular players of that era.
His first hit in the "show" was a home run that won the game for the Yankees. It occurred in Murcer's second major league contest in 1965. He also played on "Mickey Mantle Day" on September 18, 1965. Murcer said playing alongside Mantle in that game as the "greatest thrill of his career". He began the 1966 season with the major league club but was sent down to AAA. Murcer then spent the 1967–68 in the United States Army.
The Gaylord Perry "Feud"
Murcer was fined $250 on June 30, 1973, by baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for saying Kuhn didn't have the "guts" to stop Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry from throwing the spitball. That night he hit a two-run homer off Perry that put the Yankees ahead in a 7–2 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Murcer made his original comment about Kuhn after Perry beat New York the previous week that ended the Yanks' eight-game winning streak. Kuhn said that Murcer apologized in his meeting with Murcer but Murcer refused to tell newsmen that he did and he "didn't sound too contrite". Murcer, who flung his right hand into the air when he rounded first after hitting the 'homer, said to reporters "I hit a hanging spitter," he quipped.
For his career, Murcer hit Perry at a .232 clip with 2 home runs in 69 at bats. However, much of that low batting average was due to the 2 for 20 performance in the 1972 season which caused Murcer's ire in the first place. Aside from the abysmal 1972 summer he had against Perry, who won the AL Cy Young Award that year, Murcer hit .286 against Perry.
Murcer had some fun with Gaylord; he once caught a fly for the last out of an inning and spit on the ball before tossing it to Perry. Another time he sent Perry a gallon of lard. Perry retaliated by having a mutual acquaintance cover his hand with grease before shaking hands with Murcer and saying "Gaylord says hello."[2]
The Scott Crull game
On August 8, 1977, Murcer promised to try and hit a home run and a double for terminally ill fan Scott Crull who he had spoken to by phone. That night, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Murcer hit two home runs. Broadcasting the game nationally on ABC, Keith Jackson told the country how Murcer had fulfilled the dying boy's last wish. However, no one had told the young man he was dying. Murcer, however, denied he made an outright promise to Crull, as ABC had reported during the game.[citation needed]
Scott's mother told the AP, "It's wonderful that he got to talk to one of the players, and by Murcer hitting the home runs...he was thrilled." The AP later reported comments from Kenneth Crull, the young boy's uncle said "Bobby Murcer did a wonderful thing for Scotty . . . it was the highlight of his whole life." Linda Crull, the boy's aunt added, "What Bobby Murcer did was great. But what happened afterward we'd just as soon forget about." ABC's Jackson had relayed the story that had been told to him by a Chicago Cub official Buck Peden and alerted the boy to his own medical condition. Three weeks later, On August 22, Crull died. Ten hours later the Cubs beat the Giants 3–2 at Wrigley Field and Murcer hit his 24th home run. At that point the Cubs' record was 70–53, and they were 7–1/2 games out, in 2nd place. The Cubs slumped and finished at .500 with and 81–81 record. The homer in the "Scott Crull" game was one of 5 game-winning home runs Murcer had in 1977.
The Munson game
Murcer gave one of the eulogies at catcher Thurman Munson's funeral on August 6, 1979, in Canton, Ohio in which he quoted the poet and philosopher Angelo Patri: "The life of a soul on earth lasts longer than his departure. He lives on in your life and the life of all others who knew him." Afterward, the team flew home to play the first-place Baltimore Orioles in a game which was broadcast nationally on ABC-TV. Yankee manager Billy Martin wanted to give Murcer the day off, but Murcer insisted on playing—and play he did. Murcer practically won the game single-handedly, bringing the Yankees back from a 4–0 deficit with a 3-run homer in the 7th, then hitting a walk-off 2-run single down the left-field line in the bottom of the 9th, causing Howard Cosell to exclaim what a heroic performance Murcer had put on for the deceased Yankee captain Munson, who had died in a plane crash 4 days earlier. Murcer never used the bat from the game ever again and gave it to Munson's widow, Diana.
On July 2, 2004, the Seattle Times reported that Diana Munson put the bat, along with other items of Munson's, up for auction. Mrs. Munson said she wants to use the proceeds to open trust funds for her grandchildren. "You reach an age when you think about the future," she said.[7]
In August 2007, the YES Network replayed the game for a new generation of Yankee fans due to a switch of the copyright of the game from ABC to Major League Baseball. About the game, Murcer says that he was playing on "shock adrenaline" and that the game has become "part of my legacy".[8]
After the murder of NFL player Sean Taylor, the Washington Post asked Murcer about how an organization deals with such a tragedy, "You can't forget the moment, because it's so emotional," said Bobby Murcer, "It's a very moving experience ... that next game, we got to remember him as an individual and as a team. But it's not only us that's hurting. It's the fans. It's as much for them as it is for you as an individual. It reminds you that the fans who follow the team, it's as big a part of their lives as it is for you."[9]
REST IN PEACE BOBBY.
