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'Bobby Ray Murcer' (born May 20, 1946, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) was a professional baseball player for 17 seasons. After coming up briefly in with the New York Yankees in 1965 and 1966, Murcer fulfilled his military obligation before being called up to the majors to stay in 1969.
Murcer averaged 21 home runs, 89 RBIs, and a .277 average over a full season during his career. A left-handed hitter, Murcer ended with 252 home runs, 1,043 RBIs, and a .277 average. He hit .301 with runners on third base.
Murcer made the All-Star teams in 1971-74 in the American League and 1975 in the National League. He also won a Gold Glove Award in 1972. He played primarily center field and right field, though he also appeared in left field and at third base and shortstop.
Was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and in 2007 Oklahoma City University honored Murcer with the Abe Lemons/Paul Hansen Award for Sports Excellence. The Abe Lemons/Paul Hansen Award recognizes an individual who significantly contributes to the growth of sports in the state.

Contents

Minor league career (1964-66)

Major league career

New York Yankees (1965-74)

San Francisco Giants (1975-76)

Chicago Cubs (1977-79)

Yankees, second time (1979-83)

The Munson Game

Broadcasting

Malignant brain tumor

See also

References

External links

Minor league career (1964-66)

Playing in the minor leagues from 1964-66, Murcer hit .302.

Major league career

New York Yankees (1965-74)

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.
He had a career-high .331 batting average (2nd in the AL) in 1971. He led the American League in on base percentage (.427) and times on base (266), and came in 2nd in slugging percentage (.543) and runs (94), 4th in RBIs (94) and walks (91), 5th in intentional walks (13), and 10th in home runs (25). Murcer was 7th in MVP voting.
In 1972 he hit a career-high 30 doubles (3rd in the AL), 7 triples (4th), 33 home runs (2nd), and 96 RBIs (3rd). He also led the AL in runs scored (102), extra base hits (70), and total bases (314), was 3rd in slugging percentage (.537) and hits (171), and 10th in batting (.291). He came in 5th in the AL MVP voting
In 1973 he was 3rd in the league in hits (187), 4th in batting (.301), and 7th in RBIs (95). He was 9th in the MVP voting.
Murcer who had hit 25 homers with regularity, found it hard to hit home runs at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees played in 1974 and 1975 while Yankee Stadium was renovated. In the 1974 season Murcer only hit two home runs at Shea, on consecutive days (September 21 and 22, 1974).
In 1974 he was 2nd in the AL in sacrifice flies (12), 7th in RBIs (88), and 9th in intentional walks (10).

San Francisco Giants (1975-76)

Murcer was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Bonds in 1975.
In 1975 he led the league in sacrifice flies (12).
In 1976 he was 6th in the NL with 23 home runs, and 7th in RBIs (90). He was also voted the Giants MVP in 1976.

Chicago Cubs (1977-79)

In 1977 he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in the a 5-player deal that sent 2-time defending National League batting champion Bill Madlock to San Francisco. That year he led the league with 10 sacrifice flies, and was 8th in intentional walks (13).
In 1978 he was 8th in the league with 15 intentional walks.
During his time in the National League, Murcer was particularly rough on the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 63 games against them Murcer hit .347 with 11 homers and had a slugging percentage of .538. [1]

Yankees, second time (1979-83)

On June 26, 1979, Murcer returned to the Yankees as primarily a designated hitter.
On opening day in 1981 vs Texas, Murcer unloaded a pinch-hit grand slam at Yankee Stadium. He was 5th in the league in 1980 with 9 sacrifice flies.
He played DH in the 1981 World Series.
His retirement in 1983 was hastened by the Yankees wanting to bring up rookie first baseman/outfielder Don Mattingly.
Murcer, fittingly, was the last active player to have been a plaing teammate of Mickey Mantle. His final game. on June 11, 1983, occurred 19 days after Bill Robinson's final game on May 23, 1983 (for Phillies).

The Munson Game

After giving one of the eulogies at catcher Thurman Munson's funeral on Aug. 6, 1979, in Ohio, the team flew home to play the first-place Baltimore Orioles on national television. Yankee manager Billy Martin wanted to give Murcer the day off, but Murcer insisted on playing — and play he did. Murcer singlehandedly won the game, bringing the Yankees back from a 4-0 deficit with a 3-run homer in the 7th, then hit 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, Diane.

Broadcasting

After his retirement, Murcer turned to a career in broadcasting.
Murcer has been a sportscaster for the Yankees — on broadcast TV, radio and currently the YES Network — for most of the two decades since his retirement. He and colleague Frank Messer were behind the WPIX microphones as the infamous pine tar incident unfolded at Yankee Stadium on July 24, 1983, and he also called David Cone's 1999 perfect game. Murcer won three Emmy Awards for live sports coverage as the voice of the Yankees.^[1]

Malignant brain tumor

Murcer, who had been suffering from headaches and a lack of energy according to the New York Daily News, was diagnosed with a brain tumor on Christmas Eve 2006 and underwent surgery on December 28, 2006 at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the top cancer treatment facilities in the nation. On January 10, 2007, it was announced that the tumor was malignant.
Murcer made his first post-operative appearance on fellow Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay's radio show on WEPN on January 23, 2007. He was interviewed by Kay and took phone calls from listeners, as well.
Murcer concluded the interview, "I want to thank you very much for giving me the forum to do this because I wanted you to know that even though this looks bad, I'm doing great. I really am. I'm in a great place.
"God has given me peace and the overwhelming love has been insurmountable for me to even deal with. I can feel the fans. I can feel their thoughts and their prayers and I wanted to tell them how much I love them." [2]
Murcer returned to Yankee Stadium for Opening Day of the 2007 season. He called an inning with the YES Network crew, and once his presence was pointed out on the video scoreboard, he received a standing ovation from the crowd, with the Yankees coming out of the dugout to applaud him.

See also

★ Top 500 home run hitters of all time

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI

★ Hitting for the cycle

★ List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions

★ Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game

References

1. Former Yankee Murcer to have surgery Thursday

External links

★ Player record on baseball-reference.com