Bobby Murcer was a rare athletic talent. Growing up in Oklahoma, he idolized Mickey Mantle and the Yankees. By his senior year in high school, Murcer was All City in basketball and All State in both football and baseball.
Thirteen days after his 18th birthday in 1964, Murcer signed with the New York Yankees. The next year he was the Carolina League MVP and earned a September call up to the big leagues. In ’66 he was an All Star for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens and also played 21 games for the big club.
Murcer entered spring training in ’67 with hopes of earning a full-time role. The day he reported, Murcer got a call from his wife letting him know he’d been drafted into the army. Murcer served two years in the radio corps stationed in Arizona before returning to baseball in 1969.
That season Murcer became a regular. In 152 games he hit 26 homers, driving in 88 runs and scoring 88 times. After another solid year in 1970, Murcer broke out in ’71. An All Star for the first time, he hit .331 with league-leading numbers in on-base percentage (.427), OPS (.969), and OPS+ (181).
From 1969-1974, Murcer represented the Yankees in the All Star Game four times and received votes in MVP balloting in four seasons. Three times he finished in the top-10 for the league’s highest honor. During the six-year run, Murcer hit .285 and averaged 23 homers, 89 RBI, and 88 runs scored. In ’74, the team made him their highest-paid player ever.
Looking to add more home run power to the Yankee lineup, GM Gabe Paul dealt Murcer to the Giants in exchange for slugger Bobby Bonds after the end of the ’74 season. His first year in San Francisco Murcer hit .298 with a .396 on-base percentage and 91 RBI. The Giants rewarded the All Star campaign by signing Murcer to the richest contract in franchise history.
His time in San Francisco was brief. After just two seasons, the Giants dealt him to the Cubs in a six-player swap that included batting champ Bill Madlock. A month after moving to the Windy City, Murcer signed his first multi-year contract. The five-year, $1.6 million deal made him the highest-paid player in the history of the Cubs.
Murcer lasted 2 1/2 season in Chicago before being dealt back to the Yankees in June of ’79. He remained with New York in a part-time role until retiring in 1983.
In 1993 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, seven years later he was named as one of the top-100 athletes in the state’s history.
In the collection is this Bobby Murcer autographed Strat-O-Matic card from 1978. Bucknell University math major Hal Richman originated the Strat-O-Matic game in 1961. Advertised in Sports Illustrated and sold out of Richman’s basement, Strat-O-Matic gave its players the ability to make managerial decisions based on MLB statistics.