Bobby Murcer

Template:Mlbretired Bobby Ray Murcer (born May 20, 1946, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) (died of cancer, July 12, 2008) was a professional baseball player for 17 seasons. Married his high-school sweetheart, Diana Kay Rhodes, in 1966. After coming up briefly in with the New York Yankees in 1965 and 1966, Murcer fulfilled his military obligation in 1967 and 1968 before being called up to the majors to stay in 1969.

Career recap

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. Was only the third New York Yankee (Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle were the others) to make $100,000 a season and at 26 years of age was the youngest American League player ever to make a six-figure salary.[1] 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 noted for excelling at the delayed steal in which as the catcher catches the ball, or is about to throw the ball back to the pitcher the runner on first base breaks for second base. The thought is, the 2nd basemen and shortstop will be back on their heels and slow to cover the bag. After working with Mickey Mantle he was also known as an excellent drag bunter.[2]

Is currently tied for 179th All-time in home runs and at the time of his retirement his 252 home runs were tied for 72nd place All-time. At the time of his retirement Murcer's 175 home runs as a Yankee put him 11th on the club's legendary list that included names like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra.

In MLB history only 24 players hit above .275 while also hitting 250 or more home runs, driving in more than 1,000 runs, and stealing more than 125 bases and totaling 45 or more triples. Among that elite group only Murcer, George Brett, and Rogers Hornsby struck out fewer than 1,000 times. With 5 and 8 triples respectively Vladimir Guerrero and Ken Griffey, Jr. would be the 25th and 26th members of that club.

Against Hall of Fame pitchers Murcer hit .291 with 17 homers and 65 RBIs in 447 at bats. When Tommy John and Bert Blyleven (both possible Hall of Famers) are added, Murcer's numbers total 553 at bats with 20 home runs, 76 RBIs and a .297 average, seemingly stellar numbers versus such an elite group of pitchers.

For the decade of the 1970s Murcer drove in 840 runs, the 9th most in Major League baseball during that span. Murcer's 119 outfield assists led all MLB outfielders for that decade as well, ahead of Bobby Bonds (106), Rusty Staub (97), Amos Otis (93), Reggie Smith (86), Jose Cardenal (85), Del Unser (82), and Reggie Jackson (81). [3] His 198 homers tied for 17th in the major leagues for the 1970s and his .282 batting average was 20th among all players who had 5,000 or more plate appearances. During the 1970s he led his club in home runs six times (1970, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77).

High School career

Played football, baseball, and basketball teams as a sophomore at Southeast High School in Oklahoma City. In his junior year, he made the all-district football team. He also helped Southeast High to the conference championship in baseball. As a senior Murcer showed his athletic abilities by making All-State in both football (the states leading scorer) and baseball and was All-City (led the city in scoring) in basketball. He was offered a football scholarship by the University of Oklahoma.[4]

Minor league career (1964-68, 1985)

Murcer signed a contract with Yankees' scout Tom Greenwade, who was the same scout who signed fellow Oklahoman Mickey Mantle (Murcer's baseball hero[5]). Murcer signed for a $10,000 bonus in June, 1964. He began with the Johnson City, rookie-level Appalachian League club in 1964 and hit .365 in 126 at bats.

The following season, 1965, he was the Carolina League MVP with the Greensboro Hornets. Murcer hit .322 and homered 16 times drove in 90 runs and stole 18 bases. He played in his league's All-Star game that season as well. In 1966 he began the season with the Yankees but was sent down to Toledo of the International League. There he was in the All-star game once again. He hit .266 with 15 home runs and had 63 RBIs to go along with his 16 steals. He was the MVP of the Hornets (the Yankee's Single-A affiliate) as well.

While on leave in 1968 from the Army, Murcer played seven games in the Fall Instructional League. After his discharge he played third base for Caguas in the Puerto Rico League where he drove in eighteen runs in twenty-two games.

---

Scout-gate
One scout still thinks the Yankees hid Murcer and fellow Yankee, Jerry Kinney, off Yankee rosters so they would be, in effect, not available for the 1968 expansion draft. The scout, not seeing the names on a major league of Triple AAA roster found them, with no help from the Yankees at Ft. Hauchuca, Arizona, where Murcer was playing on the base team. The scout "raised a little heck" and the rule was changed at the last minute, allowing players in the military to be protected giving the Yankees 17 protected players, not 15.

---

Playing in the minor leagues from 1964-66, Murcer hit .302 which does not include his 1-12 stint with the Ft. Lauderdale Yankees in 1985 when he was attempting a comeback to the Yankees or his time with the Instructional League and the Puerto Rico League in 1968.

Major league career (1965-66, 1969-83)

New York Yankees (1965-66, 1969-74)

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.

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.

After returning from the military, Murcer started out 1969 on fire. He was hitting .321 with 11 homers and a league-leading 43 runs batted in when he jammed his heel in Kansas City. Murcer recalled, "I laid out seven days and I lost my groove and my momentum". Murcer ended the season batting .259 with 26 homers and playing centerfield, his third defensive position, after beginning the season at third base and then switching to right field. On August 10, 1969, was part of a feat that was perhaps the highlight of the 1969 season for Yankees' fans. Murcer, Thurman Munson, and Gene Michael hit consecutive home runs in the sixth inning against Oakland. Murcer led off the Yankees' sixth with a shot into the right field bleachers. Thurman Munson, playing only his second major league game, hit a pitch into the left field seats, bringing up Michael, who hit a ball into the right field seats. This was the third time Yankees hit three successive home runs. Bobby Richardson, Mickey Mantle, and Joe Pepitone did it in 1966. In 1947 Charlie Keller, Joe DiMaggio, and Johnny Lindell who accomplished the feat.

Murcer tied for the American League lead in outfield assists in 1970 with 15 and committed only 3 errors in center field. On May June, 1970, Murcer hit four home runs in consecutive at bats in a double header against the Cleveland Indians. Murcer's four home runs in a doubleheader enabled him to tie the American League record. Also, Murcer joined Lou Gehrig, Johnny Blanchard, and Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees to hit home runs in four consecutive at bats. Was third on the Yankees with 8 game winning RBIs.

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 and was voted to the prestigious The Sporting News All-Star team. One June 2, 1971, Murcer hit two home runs and "made a spectacular shoestring catch off Rico Petrocelli in the first inning to rob the Red Sox of a run" in a Yankee win over their arch rival Boston. On Sunday, July 25, 1971, Murcer hit a pinch-hit grand slam in a win against the Milwaukee Brewers marking the first of his seven career grand slams.

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 (.292). He came in 5th in the AL MVP voting and was a Gold Glove for his fielding. On August 29, 1972, Murcer hit for the cycle by hitting a single, a double, a triple and a home run. On June 3, 1972, Murcer's scored five runs scored in a game marked the 11th time it has been done in Yankee history. He was named to The Sporting News All-Star team again and Murcer's 33 home runs were the most by a Yankee centerfielder since Mickey Mantle hit 35 in 1964 and no Yankee center fielder has topped it since, the closest being Bernie Williams' 30 dingers in 2000.

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. He also led the American League in assists once again, with 14. He made The Sporting News All-Star team for the third time in his career. On July 13, 1973, Murcer clubbed three home runs (for the second time in his career) and drove in five runs in a 5-0 win over the Kansas City Royals. He narrowly missed his second Gold Glove, finishing 4th in the voting among American League outfielders. Finished second to AL MVP Reggie Jackson in game winning hits with 17 (Jackson had 18).

---

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."[6]

---

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 Murcer led all major league outfielders in assists by throwing out 21 baserunners. He was 2nd in the AL in sacrifice flies (12), 7th in RBIs (88), and 9th in intentional walks (10) and was the highest-paid player in Yankee history earning $120,000.

---

The Murcer for Bonds swap
Murcer was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Bonds in 1975 in baseball's first-ever even swap of $100,000 superstar players. In October the Yankees were looking for a quality starter and a righthanded power man. On the 22nd, in the early hours of the morning, Bobby Murcer was awakened in his Oklahoma home by the ring of his telephone. It was Gabe Paul. Murcer had been traded straight up to San Francisco for Bobby Bonds. "The trade came," he remembered sourly, "just after I had told Gabe I could finally accept right field if I knew I would be a Yankee the rest of my career, He said there was no way the Yankees could trade me. Three days later, I was gone." [7]

---

San Francisco Giants (1975-76)

In 1975, wearing the uniform #20, Murcer led the National League in sacrifice flies with 12 and was 5th in walks with 91 and drove in 91 runs and batted .298. He also led the Giants in game-winning hits with 13. On May 24, 1975, Murcer went 2 for 3 with a triple and a home run and had 6 RBIs in a win over the Cubs. That week he won the first of two National League Player of the Week awards. (he won the second two weeks later when he hit .483 for the week, including one home run and seven RBI).

However, despite a fine offensive season, he hit only 11 home runs, eliciting this quote from Murcer, "Patty Hearst could be hiding in Candlestick's upper deck and nobody would ever find her", referring to how tough it was to hit long balls at the park where the Giants played their home games. Author Zander Hollander noted that season that "only Murcer's dwindling power keeps him from superstar status" since other than the lack of home runs Murcer had a fine year in his first season as a Giant, although one of Murcer's homers was a bottom of the ninth solo shot in a 1-0 win against Phillies left-handed pitcher Jim Kaat.

On April, 6, 1976, the Associated Press reported that Murcer signed for a reported $175,000, making him the highest paid player in Giants history. That season Murcer regained his power swing and was 6th in the NL with 23 home runs, and 7th in RBIs (90). He walked 84 times which was sixth in the NL. He was also voted the Giants MVP in 1976. Led the Giants in home runs and tied for the team lead in steals with 12. He was second on the club with 10 game-winning RBI.[8] His two consecutive seasons with 90 or more RBIs was not duplicated by a San Francisco Giant until Will Clark did it in 1987-88.

On May 26, 1976, Murcer hit a grand slam against the Astros and on September 22, 1976, he stole home in a 3-1 victory against the rival Dodgers and a week later, on September 29, 1976, he gloved the final out in John Montefusco's no-hitter.

Chicago Cubs (1977-79)

In February, 1977, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in a 5-player deal that sent 2-time defending National League batting champion Bill Madlock to San Francisco. On March 6, 1977, Murcer signed his first-ever multi-year deal, calling for $1.6 million over five seasons. The contract made him the highest paid Cub player in history. As a tribute to Mantle, Murcer wore #7 with the Cubs.

That year he led the league with 10 sacrifice flies, and was 8th in intentional walks (13) while hitting 27 home runs and driving in 89 runs which led the team. His 16 steals were second on the club and he drew 80 bases on balls, good for 9th in the NL. On June 29, 1977, in his return to Candlestick Park, Murcer drove in 6 runs in a 10-9 win over the Giants.

---

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.[9] Murcer, however, denied he made an outright promise to Crull, as ABC had reported during the game.

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.

---

In 1978 he was 8th in the league with 15 intentional walks and walked a total of 80 times, which was ninth in the NL for the second time in a row. Also had one stretch of eight straight hits, a feat not duplicated by a Cub until Andre Dawson did it in 1989. Previously only Billy Williams, in 1972, was the first and only Chicago Cubs to perform that feat. Is one of seven Cub to have three multiple intentional-walk games since 1960, joining Ernie Banks, Sammy Sosa, Billy Williams, Don Kessinger, Derek Lee and Andre Dawson. Murcer, on April 25, 1978, hit a grand slam off Steve Carlton in a 4-2 win versus the Philadelphia Phillies. On September 10, 1978, Murcer went 5 for 5, the only 5-hit game of his career.

During 4-1/2 seasons 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.[10]

New York Yankees, redux (1979-83)

On June 26, 1979, Murcer returned to the Yankees in a trade for Paul Semall and cash. After wearing uniform #1 from 1969 through 1974, Bobby donned the jersey #2, since manager Billy Martin re-adopted the #1.

---

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.[11]

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”.[12]

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." [13]

---

Murcer was 5th in the league in 1980 with 9 sacrifice flies. Murcer cracked a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth inning on June 14, 1980, rallying the Yankees to a win over the Oakland A's. On July 4, 1980, Murcer hit a grand slam in a 11-5 rout of the Cleveland Indians. He was also credited with 13 game-winning RBIs in his first full season back from the National League.

On opening day in 1981 vs Texas, Murcer unloaded a pinch-hit grand slam at Yankee Stadium. Alfonso Soriano and Russ Derry are the only other two Yankees to achieve that feat. On September 26, 1981, he belted a three-run pinch-hit homer in the 9th inning in a 6-4 Yankee win over Baltimore. He played DH in the 1981 World Series. In 1981, he led the pinch hitters of the American League with three home runs and 12 RBIs.[14] He also led the club in slugging percentage (.470).

Prior to the 1982 season Murcer signed a three-year, $1,125,000 contract with the Yankees. On July 28, 1982, Murcer hit a 3-run pinch hit home run to defeat the Detroit Tigers.

On June 1, 1983, Murcer hit his 100th career home run at Yankee Stadium, which was the 252nd and final home run of his career. His retirement on June 20, 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 playing 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). On August 7, 1983, the Yankees honored his years in pinstripes with "Bobby Murcer Day". Since baseball's contracts are guaranteed Murcer collected the remainder of his contract (estimated at $360,000 a year) through 1984.[15]

Attempted a comeback in 1985, however it ended after four minor league games after Murcer went 1 for 12 and before suffering a shoulder injury.

Honors

• 1965 Carolina League Most Valuable Player
• 1969 Voted "Most Popular Yankee" by the Catholic Youth Organization in NYC.
• 1971 AL All-Star team; The Sporting News AL All-Star
• 1972 AL All-Star team; The Sporting News AL All-Star; Gold Glove
• 1973 AL All-Star team; The Sporting News AL All-Star
• 1974 AL All-Star team
• 1975 NL All-Star team
• 1993 inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame
• 1990s The Oklahoma Sports Museum's Bill Teegins Award winner.
• 2000 Named as of the top 100 athletes in Oklahoma history[16]
• 2004 Inducted Oklahoma Hall of Fame.[17]
• 2005 Received the Legend Award for his "lone and meritorious service to baseball" by the Association for the Help of Retarded Children
• 2007 honored by Oklahoma City University 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.

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. Murcer continued to call games on WPIX until 1998, when the station lost the rights to the Yankees (they would pick up the broadcast rights to the Mets instead).

After WPIX lost the rights to the Yankees, Murcer moved to WNYW's coverage, where he and Tim McCarver shared play-by-play roles. He would remain there until 2001 (calling, among other games, David Cone's 1999 perfect game), when he moved to the YES Network to call the games there and on its broadcast partners (originally WCBS, now WWOR), albeit with a reduced workload. Murcer won three Emmy Awards for live sports coverage as the voice of the Yankees.[18]

In November, 2007, Murcer was nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually to a broadcaster by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball" and is is presented annually during the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.[19]

Bobby Murcer Tobacco Addiction Prevention bill

After being a tobacco user most of his life, in the late 1990s Murcer conceded what he thought was the error of his ways. After having a family member suffered from cancer, Murcer became an anti-tobacco activist, according to the AP. The Senate of the State of Oklahoma passed Senate Bill 619 that purported to "beef up local regulation of tobacco sales to minors". The bill was passed by the lower chamber and signed in to law.[20]

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".[21]

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.

The Tug McGraw Foundation, which supports research to improve quality of life for brain tumor patients and their families, honored Murcer as their "Good Guy of 2007". The award was given at the "Denim & Diamonds: An Evening with Tim McGraw and Friends" on November 2, 2007, St. Louis.[22]

In January, 2008, he was honored by the New York Chapter of the BBWA as the winner of the "You Gotta Have Heart" award for his battle against cancer.[23]

In late February, 2008, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) caused Murcer's doctors to do a biopsy. On March 5, 2008, Murcer received good news: that the biopsy revealed scar tissue, rather than a recurrence of brain cancer. Murcer stated he planned to rest until spring training where he plans to call Yankee games and work in the YES Network studio.[24]

On Saturday, July 12th, 2008, Yankees YES Network reported that Murcer had passed away. Murcer was a Yankee favorite for his time in pinstripes and will be deeply missed by all in the Yankees organization.

Murcer's Take on the Mitchell Report

Murcer defended Yankee pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite who were accused of using performance enhancing drugs in the Mitchell Report, which was released in December, 2007. Murcer was quoted in the Daily Oklahoman as saying, "Roger or Andy, either one, have never been accused of taking illegal drugs,” Murcer said. "I mean, they never tested positive for any of that. He further added "I can't convict somebody on allegations” and "with all the testing that's going on today, and Andy and Roger never testing positive for anything, I can't assume somebody's guilty based on the testimony of a disgruntled trainer." [25]

Notes

• He made an appearance on the television variety show Hee Haw.
• In 1971 appeared on the television show What's My Line? as a mystery guest.
• Served as the Yankee's union representative.
• In the late 1970s, along with Carlton Fisk, Murcer endorsed the spit-tobacco Skoal in national TV ads.
• Was part of a four-player biography in 1973, "At Bat!: Aaron-Murcer-Bench-Jackson", by Bill Gutman, published by Tempo Books.
• In early 1974, along with Mickey Mantle, flew to Washington D.C. to visit with Senator Edward Kennedy's (D-MA) son, Teddy, who recently had a right leg amputated due to cancer. Murcer and Mantle traveled at Senator Kennedy's request and George Steinbrenner's expense.
• In the winter of 1980-81 traveled to Japan with an American League "All-Star" team.
• Recorded two country songs, "Skoal Dippin' Man" and "Bad Whiskey" in 1982, both released by Columbia Records.
• Was a Yankee vice-president in 1985 and individually worked with Ricky Henderson's rehab efforts when Henderson was brought to the Yankees.
• Is credited with the quote, "Trying to hit Phil Niekro is like trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks". (Murcer hit only .208 with no home runs in 48 career at bats versus the knuckleballer Niekro)
• In July, 1986, along with Billy Martin, was a guest VJ (video DJ) on MTV.[26]
• In 1987 Yankees owner George Steinbrenner hired Murcer to coach left-handed hitters.
• Entered and finished the New York City Marathon in 1988.[27]
• Has appeared in celebrity rodeos for various charitable organizations.
• Appeared in two films as himself - New York Yankees, (The Movie), in 1987; and The Scout in 1994.
• Serves as the chairman of the board of the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT), which grants money to former players and other baseball figures who are in need.[28]
• In 1989 became part-time owner of the Class AAA baseball team in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma City 89ers.
• His annual golf tournament has raised more than $1 million for the American Cancer Society since 1990.[29]
• In his career has invested in jewelry stores, an oil drilling company, race horses, and a minor league baseball team.
• In 1995 joined with Mickey Mantle to raise money for the victims of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing.
• Has been a regular and the annual Yankees Old Timer's game which is in its 60th year.
• Was a pallbearer at Mantle's funeral along with Yogi Berra, Johnny Blanchard, Bill "Moose" Skowron, Whitey Ford.
• In November, 2007, featured as one of "100 Leaders for the Next 100 Years" by Oklahoma Sports Heritage Museum.[30]
• In 2006 Aduddell Industries of Oklahoma City has named Murcer as corporate spokesperson.
• Is currently penning his biography, due to be released in Spring, 2008, entitled "Yankee For Life".
• Once while playing with the Yankees, he and two other teammates got caught in a bizzare 2-5-3-1 triple play.

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

External links

• Player record on baseball-reference.com
• Murcer's batting statistics
• Statistics and comments on Murcer
• Oklahoma Hall of Fame page for Murcer
• Murcer comments on Babe Ruth, Micky Mantle, and his most thrilling moments in baseball