My Day with Bobby Murcer

[Mean Linguine]

Phil and other forumers have written very poignantly about Mr. Murcer.
For anyone who's interested, just wanted to share my experiences from January 2003, when I got to spend a day with my boyhood hero:

Used to work at a newspaper in Pa. (news, not sports) and wrote about a local guy who went on to parlay his love of sports into eventually opening a line of memorabilia stores in Vegas. He was a really cool and interesting guy and the article was pretty flattering. During our interview, I mentioned briefly that Bobby Murcer was my favorite player growing up.
A little while later, something arrived in the mail: A signed ball by Bobby Murcer. You're not supposed to accept things from people you write about, but this was a gift from the heart and it would have been an insult to return it.
So I was more than happy with that.
Then a little while later, he phoned with amazing news: He won a contest and had a choice of a number of ballplayers he could bring to his memorabilia store to sign autographs -- and he chose Murcer, because he wanted me to help out at the booth. My dad and I were going to be in Vegas that month, anyway, so this was perfect.

Got to sit down next to Bobby at a steakhouse before the autograph session. He was about what you would expect. Great story-teller. Polite. He explained how he came to be the Yankees announcer. Steinbrenner told him in 1983 that Phil Rizzuto was going to be retiring in the near future and that the team also needed to make room for some kid first baseman named Don Mattingly. This was in Baltimore, and The Boss asked Murcer if he would consider leaving the field for the booth. This would obviously be a life-changing decision and Murcer said he needed time to think about it. "I'll call you back in an hour to get your decision," the impulsive Steinbrenner said.

He also had funny stories about former Vice President Dan Quayle and Mickey Mantle.
Quayle saw Mickey and asked him, "How's Billy?"
"Dead," Mickey replied.
"How's Roger?" Quayle then asked.
"Dead," Mickey replied.

Bobby also said he wanted to give Mickey a chance to plug his restaurant on the air, but then Mickey went on and said Whitey Ford told him he got a steak earlier that day that "tasted like shoe leather."

From there we were off to the autograph session. Have you ever noticed on autographed balls and items that there's a tiny circular silver sticker on it that authenticates it? I was in charge of affixing the silver stickers.

Anyway, he was very gracious. He would hold out his hand and tell little kids, "This hand shook Derek Jeter's hand," and then he would shake the kids' hands.
He talked about how he was doing a lot of long distance running and golf to stay in shape.
I asked him if he ever practiced before those Old-Timers Day games where he was wired with a mike. He said he didn't.
He also said he never imagined that baseball cards would become such a huge thing -- some guy from the baseball card company would come by with a camera, click a picture, and he didn't really think much more about it after that.
I told him that I puffed out my cheek and looked ridiculous in my first Little League pitcher because I was trying to imitate what he looked like when he was chewing tobacco. He said he didn't realize the dangers at the time and regretted ever chewing tobacco.
It was becoming a moment worthy of "Just doesn't get any better" beer commercial. My favorite player was on my left, and my dad was in the casino winning 300 bucks, which meant free dinners for the rest of the trip!
Next to my wedding and the births of my kids, this was one of my best days ever.

[Trish]

How lucky you were to get to spend time with him. Thank you for sharing that beautiful story.

[MunsonNY15]

Thanks for sharing. What a great day you had!

Heidi

[Romeo the Yankee]

What a day, would had been a dream of mine to meet Bobby personally, he was a true Yankee

[YanksFan1992]

Great story, thanks for sharing it.

[jlw1980]

Wow, that's so cool! Thank you for sharing it with us.

[WashingtonYankee]

Wow! That's great! I met Bobby too. What an amazing guy.

[wexy]

Nice Story and a great memory to have.

[Murcer1]

What a great story....and a memory that you will treasure for the rest of your life. Thanks for sharing.

[Born in the Bronx]

Great story! He seemed like such a genuine human being. What an awesome memory for you.

I was in the RF stands the day that Bobby delivered the eulogy at Thurman Munson's funeral. Bobby's home run landed 3 rows in back of me. To this day, I still remember seeing the laces spin as the ball sailed right over my head. I was 12 at the time and I was at the game with my father. I always wanted to thank Bobby for giving me and my father such a wonderful memory.

Right after he was diagnosed, he was on the radio with Michael Kay. I had a chance to call in and speak with him. It was pretty cool. I can only imagine how awesome your experience was.

[krystl]

What a cool story. How lucky you were to be able to do that.

I like the part about him telling the kids that his hand shook Derek Jeter's hand.

[Mean Linguine]

Great story! He seemed like such a genuine human being. What an awesome memory for you.

I was in the RF stands the day that Bobby delivered the eulogy at Thurman Munson's funeral. Bobby's home run landed 3 rows in back of me. To this day, I still remember seeing the laces spin as the ball sailed right over my head. I was 12 at the time and I was at the game with my father. I always wanted to thank Bobby for giving me and my father such a wonderful memory.

Right after he was diagnosed, he was on the radio with Michael Kay. I had a chance to call in and speak with him. It was pretty cool. I can only imagine how awesome your experience was.

Would have been amazing to be at that game.
What question did you ask Bobby on the call-in show?

[Mean Linguine]

What a cool story. How lucky you were to be able to do that.

I like the part about him telling the kids that his hand shook Derek Jeter's hand.

He said that Jeter was very respectful. But I was surprised when he told me that many of the players at that time didn't even realize he used to play.
Reminds me of a story where one of the Yankees -- was it Melido Perez? -- saw a player in the dugout and asked,"Who is that old man?" Only to be told that it was Joe DiMaggio.

[krystl]

He said that Jeter was very respectful. But I was surprised when he told me that many of the players at that time didn't even realize he used to play.
Reminds me of a story where one of the Yankees -- was it Melido Perez? -- saw a player in the dugout and asked,"Who is that old man?" Only to be told that it was Joe DiMaggio.

I don't remember which player, but I do remember hearing a story like that.

When I was pretty young, I didn't always know Scooter was a player before he was a broadcaster. I had only ever known him from announcing the games (and The Money Store)

[Toaderly]

Simply amazing. I can't begin to imagine how fantastic that was for you. Congrats.

[TheBamTino24]

Thanks for sharing this story. Good stuff.

[4bronxbombers]

That's an awesome story. You're very lucky.

[Sixty one]

That's quite a story and one that you can share with your family for years to come.

[yankee007]

Great story about agreat Yankee.

[mjdlight]

Anyway, he was very gracious. He would hold out his hand and tell little kids, "This hand shook Derek Jeter's hand," and then he would shake the kids' hands.

LOL! I miss Bobby's sense of humor so much.

[MunsonNY15]

LOL! I miss Bobby's sense of humor so much.

If you haven't already, you should really read his autobiography. His humor really shines though the whole book, especially in the chapters dealing with his illness. You'd think that part would be very depressing, but it was just the opposite - quite uplifting and Bobby's humor was a big reason why.

Heidi