Forty years ago, Murcer stood tall for Yankees
Forty years ago this week, the Yankees did their duty. They played some baseball games on the weekend of Aug. 3-5, 1979. Despondent, they slogged through a series against the Orioles, losing twice and winning once, somehow beating Baltimore 3-2 on Sunday,
Tommy John outdueling Mike Flanagan. Both pitched complete games.
There was no relief afterwards, either. The game lasted 2:20. The hurt lasted forever.
The Yankees were playing without their captain, catcher Thurman Munson, who on Aug. 2 had died in a crash of the private plane he piloted to get to his beloved hometown of Canton, Ohio. Munson often flew home on off days to be with his family.
Munson was the soul of the renaissance Pinstripers. The Yanks' first captain since Lou Gehrig died in 1941.
Munson's private memorial service in Canton was like a state funeral. Dignitaries descended on Canton. Consoling telegrams were read, including those from Muhammad Ali and Mrs. Lou Gehrig.
A Catholic priest spoke, along with two Yankees. Lou Piniella and Bobby Murcer. Piniella held up. Murcer did not.
Munson and Murcer, the pride of Oklahoma City's Southeast High School and the anointed heir to Mickey Mantle, were
rookies together in 1969. Ironically, the American League rookie of the year that season was Piniella, then with the Royals, although Murcer had a much better season, voters at the time not knowing how baseball games were won.
Munson and Murcer were fast friends. Murcer nicknamed Munson “Tugboat.” They were the leaders of the rebuilt Yankees. Murcer made the all-star team every season from 1971-74. Munson made it in '71, '73 and '74.
By 1976, the Yankees were back in the World Series for the first time in a dozen years. But Murcer wasn't along for that ride; he had been traded to San Francisco and missed those Bronx Zoo years of 1976-78.
No matter. On June 26, 1979, Murcer was traded back to the Yankees, and he was home again, reunited at age 33 with his old pal Munson.
Five weeks later, Munson was dead, and Murcer was delivering a eulogy at the Canton Civic Center.
“The Yankees will be without a captain now, just as they were after Lou Gehrig's death, until our Thurman Munson arrived,” Murcer said, haltingly, according to the Washington Post. “Someone, someday will lead this team again — in five years, 10 years, if ever. No greater honor could be bestowed than to be the successor to this man.”
Then the Yankees did something even more difficult than those three games they had played against Baltimore. They got back on a plane chartered by owner George Steinbrenner and flew back to New York for the series finale against the Orioles.
Legend has it that the Yankees didn't want to play that night, that commissioner Bowie Kuhn demanded that the game go on. But according to the Yankees themselves, in interviews aired on their Yes Network, Diane Munson, Thurman's widow, wanted the Yanks to play.
“I think we're all emotionally drained in the Yankee family,”
Steinbrenner told ABC's Howard Cosell. “But Bobby Murcer spent the evening at the Munson house Thursday night. He came in to see me Friday morning and said, `Diane asked for one thing. Thurman never quit when he was hurt, and she wants us to play.' Even though everyone on that ballclub is hurting. We don't quit. They don't quit. So the determination was made.”
So the Yankees played after flying home from the funeral. That Aug. 6 game was part of ABC's Monday Night Baseball package.
It became one of the most famous games in Yankee history. The Yankees have played dozens of hallowed games over the century, but the Bobby Murcer Game takes its place among them.
The Yankees trailed 4-0 in the seventh inning against the Orioles' Dennis Martinez. But with two out, Bucky Dent walked, Willie Randolph doubled and Murcer lined a three-run homer into the right-field stands. It was Murcer's first home run since rejoining the Yankees.
Then in the ninth, Dent led off with a walk, Oriole reliever Tippy Martinez threw Randolph's bunt down the line and the Yankees had runners on second and third.
Normally, it was automatic. Manager Billy Martin would pinch-hit for the lefthanded hitting Murcer against the left-handed Martinez. But this was a different night. Martin stuck with Murcer.
“He just felt that something happened that came over him was sort of magical,” Kay Murcer, Bobby's wife, told the Yes Network. “It's something Bobby and I talked about often, but we never could put our finger on how it happened.”
WHAT happened was that Murcer lined a hit into the left-field corner, easily scoring Randolph with the winning run, and the Yankees had one of their most emotional victories ever.
“He put us on his shoulders and basically took over the whole game,” said Yankee reliever Ron Davis.
Said reliever Goose Gossage, “One of the greatest performances I have ever seen.”
Murcer had five runs batted in his first 30 games back with the Yankees. Then he had five RBIs in three innings against Baltimore.
Back in Canton, Diane Munson and her family watched the game with heavy hearts but with renewed spirits. Thirtysix thousand Yankee fans who 2 ½ hours earlier had been sobbing, suddenly were cheering.
Murcer, who had been a New York star but no Mickey Mantle, was forever branded a Yankee hero. Murcer retired in 1983 and spent most of the next quarter century as a Yankee broadcaster, though he continued to live in his hometown. Much like a certain Yankee catcher.
Murcer died on July 12, 2008, of a brain tumor. The memorial service was held 25 days later, at the Memorial Road Church of Christ, on Aug. 6, 2008, which was the 25th anniversary of Bobby Murcer Day at Yankee Stadium and the 29th anniversary of the Bobby Murcer Game.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-7608080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.