Baseball Time Machine: Yankees reacquire Bobby Murcer
On June 26, 1979, the Yankees reacquired Bobby Murcer from the Chicago Cubs in a trade for minor league P Paul Semall, who never made it to the majors, and cash.
The Yankees had originally traded Murcer to the Giants for Bobby Bonds on October 22, 1974. It was the first trade in major league history between players both earning at least $100,000. Murcer later wrote in his autobiography that he felt “devastated, stunned and betrayed” by the trade, comparing the shock to being told he had a brain tumor. He recalled that Yankees executive Gabe Paul delivered the news, and Murcer believed that Paul would not have made the move without owner George Steinbrenner’s approval, despite Steinbrenner being on the verge of suspension for unrelated reasons. Murcer remembered Steinbrenner once telling him, “As long as I’m with the Yankees, you’ll be with the Yankees, too,” which he described as the most comforting words he’d ever heard from a major league executive, given his lifelong desire to be a Yankee.
After his time with the Giants, Murcer was traded to the Cubs in February 1977 for Bill Madlock, the reigning National League batting champion, to San Francisco. Murcer said he mostly felt disappointment at being far from home and not wearing Yankee pinstripes.
Murcer’s absence from the Yankees was especially painful because the team won three straight pennants and consecutive World Series titles without him. He wrote that it “just ripped my heart out not to have been part of that.” However, upon his return, Murcer did get to play on a division-winning Yankees team in 1980 and a pennant winner in 1981.
When Murcer returned to the Yankees, he hoped to reclaim his old uniform number 1, but that number had been taken back by manager Billy Martin. Instead, clubhouse manager Pete Sheehy assigned Murcer number 21.
Murcer had previously made four straight All-Star teams with the Yankees from 1971 to 1974 and was selected again as a Giant in 1975, his last All-Star appearance. From 1971 to 1973, he finished in the top 10 in MVP voting each year:
1971: .321/.427/.543, .969 OPS, 25 HR, 94 RBI, 14 SB
1972: .292/.361/.537, .898 OPS, 30 HR, 96 RBI, 11 SB
1973: .304/.357/.464, .821 OPS, 22 HR, 95 RBI, 6 SB
Murcer hit .273/.339/.409, 8 HR, 33 RBI in 74 games with the Yankees in 1979 after the trade.
At the end of his career in 1983, Murcer was told the Yankees had a kid who they really liked his glove but they didn’t think he could hit major league pitching. So he could either be released or retire. Murcer decided to retire and then transitioned to a career as a Yankees broadcaster. The kid who was called up was Don Mattingly.
Murcer grew up a Yankees fan and once said he would rather be honored with a day at Yankee Stadium than be elected to the Hall of Fame. Mickey Mantle was Murcer’s boyhood idol, and Murcer later said that playing on Mickey Mantle Day in September 1965, as a shortstop, was the biggest thrill of his career. On August 7, 1983, the Yankees held Bobby Murcer Day, almost two months after he played his final game.