Bobby Ray Murcer
I guess I felt something wasn't quite right when I heard Bobby Murcer on his first Yankee broadcast of 2008. With his voice weakened and distant, it just didn't sound like him. And then Bobby never returned to the broadcast booth.
All of my worst fears were confirmed on Saturday afternoon, when I heard the news that Bobby Murcer had died earlier in the day. Only 62 years of age, Bobby succumbed to the effects of brain cancer, which was first diagnosed in December of 2006.
This is heartbreaking news for me--as I'm sure it is for all of Bobby's fans, and of course, his family and friends. When I first started following the Yankees in the early 1970s, he and Thurman Munson were my favorite players. They were two of the reasons why it was always worthwhile to switch the television dial to WPIX, even when the Yankees were losing more games than they were winning.
In his prime, Bobby was a five-tool player who did everything well. He enjoyed a couple of Hall of Fame seasons before showing some slippage in his game. And just as we waited for Bobby to bounce back, the Yankee front office broke our collective hearts by trading him to the Giants for Bobby Bonds.
Thankfully, the Yankees brought Murcer back in 1979, allowing him to finish out his career in the only place he should have played. When he retired, he stayed in the Bronx, becoming a broadcaster and friend to a new generation of younger fans. For us older fans who remembered watching him play, his place in the broadcast booth gave us a continuing connection to an earlier and more innocent era in Yankee history.
A few years ago, Bobby provided me with one of the most lasting thrills of my professional career when he agreed to become a guest on the Hall of Fame Hour show that Billy Sample and I hosted for MLB Radio. I'll always cherish those few on-air moments with Bobby, who was as gracious and kind as I'd always been led to believe.
Today, I'm one of just many people offering thanks to the man who was known as Bobby Ray Murcer. He was one of the genuinely good ones; they're realizing that in heaven right about now.
Mr. Murcer began his professional career in my hometown - Johnson City, TN. And he left a permanent impression on this young fan when he played here in the 1960s. There was sense of native pride for this youngster to know that someone as good as Bobby Murcer had begun his professional career in my hometown - I felt that if he could play here and move forward to greatness, perhaps I could, too. Naive, certainly - but very real.
He was class - through and through. He will be missed in New York City - and in Johnson City, TN as well.
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You must have been like a kid on Christmas. Great story.
On a side note, pleeeaassseee come back to All Star Village! Everyone on the planet has been asking about you. Tony has been saying "WHERE'S BRUCE?!" You're the best announcer ever. Things are boring without you.
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Thanks for the comments, guys. "A kid on Christmas" just about sums it up, Matt. Say hi to everyone at All-Star Village for me.
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Several other ballplayers have also passed away over the last few days. Steve Mingori, Dave Ricketts, and Chuck Stobbs have all died since Thursday. We'll have more on each of them in Monday's posting.
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