Results tagged ‘ Bobby Murcer ’
Yanks gain ground on Orioles
The remaining schedule favors the Yankees, who moved a huge step in front of the Orioles Monday night by taking control of first place in the American League East with two games to play. Fortunately for the Yankees, their two games are against the last-place Red Sox. Unfortunately for the Orioles, their two games are against the Rays, who have a stake in the postseason sweepstakes.
The Yankees did what they needed to do by overwhelming a Boston squad that seemed more suited for Pawtucket, the Triple-A affiliate. A nine-run second inning fortified by four home runs started the Yankees toward a 10-2 victory behind CC Sabathia, who looked every bit an ace with an eight-inning performance in which he scattered four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.
Meanwhile at St. Petersburg, Fla., Tampa Bay torpedoed Baltimore, 5-3. The Orioles had the potential tying runs on base in the ninth inning hoping to at least get even and then do their usual magic act in extra innings. Fernando Rodney prevented that, so the Yankees are back alone atop the division by a full game.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi might take some criticism for using Sabathia for so long in a game that appeared decided early. Look, there are no guarantees, and no lead is insurmountable. If Joe had pulled CC after, say, five or six innings, and the Pawtucket Sox somehow managed to rally against the bullpen, fans would have been furious. At this juncture of the season with a division title on the line, it is vital to win games.
With David Phelps starting Tuesday night, Girardi wanted a rested bullpen. I think he was right. Some might say that Sabathia could be called upon to pitch on short rest at some point in the postseason. Perhaps, but a manager cannot worry about that when he has a game to win now.
The Yankees flexed their muscles in a 13-hit attack. As he did recently on the Yanks’ final trip of the season, Robinson Cano led the way. He started the scoring with his 31st home run and added two doubles and two more runs batted in. During his seven-game hitting streak, Cano is batting .621 with seven doubles, one home run and eight RBI in 29 at-bats. He has raised his batting average over that stretch from .293 to .308, a 15-point hike that is almost unheard of this late into a season. The home run was career No. 175 for Cano, who tied Bobby Murcer for 20th place on the franchise list.
Nick Swisher also had three hits to keep his hot streak going. Over his past 14 games, Swish is batting .385 with four home runs and 14 RBI. Mark Teixeira celebrated a return to the lineup with his 24th home run in the four-homer, nine-run second inning that also featured round-trip blows by Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin. Tex’s 20 RBI in 10 games against the Red Sox this season are the most for a Yankees player against Boston in one season since Mickey Mantle had 22 in 1958.
There was also a feel-good moment in the eighth inning when Melky Mesa in his first major-league at-bat singled through the middle for his first major-league hit and RBI at the same time. The rookie was sent to the plate as a pinch hitter for Alex Rodriguez. Who knows where Mesa’s career will take him, but he surely won’t have any trouble remembering all those firsts on a night when the Yankees took over first.
Yankees sign first-round draft pick
The Yankees have agreed to terms with pitcher Ty Hensley, their first-round selection and 30th pick overall in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.
Hensley, 18, who recently graduated from Santa Fe High School in Edmond, Okla., had a 10-0 record with a 1.52 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 55 1/3 innings over 11 games as a senior in 2012. He was named the 2012 Gatorade Oklahoma “Baseball Player of the Year.”
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound righthander was ranked by Baseball America as the 11th-best pitcher and 23rd overall player in this year’s draft. He entered as the publication’s second-best player from Oklahoma and became just the seventh Oklahoma pitcher to be selected in the first round out of high school.
The Yankees have had their share of success signing Oklahomans, most notably such pre-draft stars as Mickey Mantle and Bobby Murcer.
“I’m excited to join such a prestigious organization with so much history and tradition,” Hensley said. “I’m lucky to have this opportunity. I’m looking forward to getting my professional career going and getting to the big leagues as quickly as possible.”
Mike Hensley, Ty’s father, was a right-handed pitcher who was drafted out of the University of Oklahoma by the Cardinals in the second round of the 1988 First-Year Player Draft.
Oklahoma college to honor Murcer’s memory
Oklahoma Christian University will officially dedicate the new Bobby Murcer Indoor Training Facility Friday as a step toward reviving the school’s baseball program. School officials and members of the Murcer family will gather to celebrate the opening of the $503,000 facility, named after the Oklahoma City native and Yankees player and broadcaster, who died in July 2008 at age 62 after battling brain cancer.
Murcer, a five-time All-Star, was among the most famous players to come out it Oklahoma. He starred at Southeast High School in Oklahoma City before being drafted by the Yankees. Bobby played briefly for the Yanks during the 1965 and 1966 seasons before spending two years in the U.S. Army. He resumed his major league career in 1969 and followed another Oklahoman, Mickey Mantle, as the Yankees’ starting center fielder.
Murcer played for the Yankees through 1974, then spent two seasons with the Giants and 2½ years with the Cubs before returning to the Yankees midway through the 1979 season and played with them until retiring in June 1983. In more than two decades as a broadcaster for the Yankees, Bobby won three Emmy Awards for live sports coverage. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2004.
Although he did not attend Oklahoma Christian, Murcer had strong ties with many people associated with the university, as he and his wife, Kay, attended Memorial Road Church of Christ, which is located immediately southwest of the OC campus.
OC dropped baseball after the 2001 season and didn’t again field a team in the sport until 2008. As OC prepared to re-launch the baseball program, university leaders asked Murcer to support their efforts, which agreed to do. The university scheduled a gala event early in 2008 involving Murcer, which eventually had to be canceled because of his deteriorating health.
Kent Allen, OC’s vice president for alumni relations, is a former minister at the Memorial Road church and a friend of the Murcer family. He wanted to honor his memory in a tangible way on the OC campus. That idea led to the naming of the new baseball indoor practice facility in honor of Murcer.
“We felt like we needed to give honor to whom honor is due,” Allen said. “In the end, he had developed a keen interest in wanting to bring OC baseball back, even better than before. Here’s a man who drove by the university every day, had seen the importance of bringing baseball back to the university, had developed good relationships with so many people on the campus, had lent his name to a fundraising activity and was one of Oklahoma’s favorite sons. It just made sense to name the facility after him.”
Kay Murcer supported the decision to name the facility after her husband. “I feel like my roots are here in Oklahoma and I will keep my heels dug in this area,” she said. “I hope one day, maybe one of our grandkids will attend Oklahoma Christian. I couldn’t think of a better way to honor Bobby.”
OC baseball coach Chuck White said the university is glad to be able to honor Murcer’s memory, because of what he stood for.
“It’s how he handled himself and how he treated other people,” White said. “He was always very gracious, very humble and very engaging. You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who has a bad word to say about him because he always treated everybody so well. I think that is what drew people to him. He was a very humble individual who never elevated his position because of his profession.”
The Bobby Murcer Indoor Training Facility is located on the northwest corner of the Oklahoma Christian campus, next to Dobson Field, where the Eagles play their home games. The 12,800-square-foot facility includes 8,000 square feet of workout space, including batting cages. The facility also includes a clubhouse with showers, an athletic training area, a weight training area and laundry facilities.
The lobby of the facility includes photos from Murcer’s playing and broadcasting careers, special wallpaper that depicts various scenes from OC’s baseball history and plaques honoring the 10 Oklahoma Christian players who have received NAIA All-America honors through the years.
At a later date, two seats from the old Yankee Stadium donated by the Yankees will be displayed in the lobby.
Gates for Sunday’s Old Timers’ Day open at 10 a.m.
Fans planning to attend Sunday’s 65th annual Old Timers’ Day are encouraged to get to Yankee Stadium early. Gates will open at 10 a.m. with the Old Timers’ Day ceremonies to start at 11:30 a.m., followed by the traditional, two-inning Old Timers’ Day game. The regularly scheduled inter-league game between the Yankees and the Rockies will have a first pitch of 2:20 p.m. The entire day’s activities will be cablecast on the YES Network.
Bernie Williams and former managers Lou Piniella and Joe Torre will be making their Old Timers’ Day debuts. “Sweet Lou” will be putting on a Yankees uniform for the first time since 1988. Torre, whose Yankees teams defeated Piniella’s Seattle Mariners in the 2000 and 2001 post-seasons, is still active in the game as Major League Baseball’s vice president for baseball operations.
They will be among 50 former Yankees on hand for the ceremonies. Other headliners among returning Old Timers will be Hall of Famers Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage, plus the perfect game trio of Don Larsen, David Wells and David Cone. The Yankees will also hold a special tribute honoring long-time team trainer Gene Monahan, who will retire at season’s end after 49 years of service to the organization.
In addition, players and coaches from Yankees championship teams of the past will include Dr. Bobby Brown, Jerry Coleman, Moose Skowron, Luis Arroyo, Homer Bush, Brian Doyle, Cecil Fielder, Joe Girardi, Dwight Gooden, Ron Guidry, Charlie Hayes, Graeme Lloyd, Hector Lopez, Tino Martinez, Lee Mazzilli, Ramiro Mendoza, Gene Michael, Jeff Nelson, Graig Nettles, Joe Pepitone, Mickey Rivers, Charlie Silvera, Darryl Strawberry, Mel Stottlemyre and Roy White.
Joining the Hall of Famers and other former Yankees on the baselines will be the widows of five legendary Yankees – Arlene Howard (Elston), Helen Hunter (Jim “Catfish”), Jill Martin (Billy), Diana Munson (Thurman) and Kay Murcer (Bobby).
Bernie an Old Timer? He will be June 26th
Are you ready to consider Bernie Williams an old timer? Well, get used to it. Bernabe will make his first appearance on Old Timers’ Day when Yankees alumni gather for the 65th annual event Sunday, June 26, at Yankee Stadium.
Also making their Old Timers’ Day debuts will be former managers Lou Piniella and Joe Torre. “Sweet Lou” will be putting on a Yankees uniform for the first time since 1988. Torre, whose Yankees teams defeated Piniella’s Seattle Mariners in the 2000 and 2001 post-seasons, is still active in the game as Major League Baseball’s vice president for baseball operations.
They will be among 50 former Yankees on hand for the ceremonies that begin at 11:30 a.m., followed by the traditional, two-inning Old Timers’ game. The current Yankees will play the Colorado Rockies in an inter-league game starting at 2 p.m. The entire day’s activities will be aired exclusively on the YES Network.
Other headliners among returning Old Timers will be Hall of Famers Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage, plus the perfect game trio of Don Larsen, David Wells and David Cone. The Yankees will also hold a special tribute honoring long-time team trainer Gene Monahan, who will retire at season’s end after 49 years of service to the organization.
In addition, other players and coaches from Yankees championship teams of the past will include Dr. Bobby Brown, Jerry Coleman, Moose Skowron, Luis Arroyo, Homer Bush, Brian Doyle, Cecil Fielder, Joe Girardi, Dwight Gooden, Ron Guidry, Charlie Hayes, Graeme Lloyd, Hector Lopez, Lee Mazzilli, Ramiro Mendoza, Gene Michael, Jeff Nelson, Graig Nettles, Joe Pepitone, Mickey Rivers, Charlie Silvera, Darryl Strawberry, Mel Stottlemyre and Roy White.
Joining the Hall of Famers and other former Yankees on the baselines will be the widows of five legendary Yankees – Arlene Howard (Elston), Helen Hunter (Jim “Catfish”), Jill Martin (Billy), Diana Munson (Thurman) and Kay Murcer (Bobby).
Monahan to retire as Yanks’ trainer at season’s end
Gene Monahan, the last link to the first season George Steinbrenner took control of the Yankees, will retire as the club’s long-time head athletic trainer at the end of the season. This is Geno’s 49th season with the Yankees as the longest tenured employee in the organization. He began as a batboy and clubhouse attendant in 1962 as a 17-year-old high school senior in the Yankees’ first spring training in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., his hometown.
Monahan, 66, talked with general manager Brian Cashman, manager Joe Girardi and other team officials about his decision in recent weeks and made the announcement official in an impromptu meeting with the players before Tuesday night’s game against the Royals at Yankee Stadium.
He had gathered the players together to alert them to upcoming skin and oral cancer screenings and then added, ‘Oh, and by the way, this will be my last year with the team.”
That was so typical of Monahan, an admitted introvert who remained in the background except when doing his job – to keep players healthy over the course of the grueling, 162-game schedule. He followed the advice he received years ago from the Yankees’ legendary equipment manager Pete Sheehy – “Keep your ears open and your mouth shut.”
“I got a huge wakeup a year ago, and it had a profound effect on me,” said Monahan, who battled throat and neck cancer that is now in remission. “I realized there are other things in my life that I need to do – to spend more time with my kids, with my extended family. I need to have a dog, a house, a garden, a backyard, and maybe a pickup.”
Geno, as he was affectionately known over the years by managers, coaches and players, not to mention the principal owner, has lived in New Jersey most of the past 40 years but plans to move to North Carolina where he bought a house. That is in the heart of NASCAR country, which is appropriate for Monahan, a passionate auto racing enthusiast.
Monahan spent 10 years working in the Yankees’ minor-league system and graduated from Indiana University as a certified trainer along the way before he was named the team’s head trainer in 1973, the year a group headed by Steinbrenner bought the team.
“The Boss and I came on the scene together,” Monahan said. “We taught each other a lot of stuff. I was always grateful to him for the opportunity. I can’t thank him anymore, but I let his family know that all the time.”
Monahan said he made a point of not getting too close to players because they were all important to him, but he made special mention of a few over the decades – Bobby Murcer, Sparky Lyle, Thurman Munson and Jim “Catfish” Hunter. Monahan served under 16 managers from Ralph Houk to Girardi and including Billy Martin five times and Bob Lemon, Gene Michael and Lou Piniella twice apiece.
The announcement of Monahan’s retirement at season’s end comes the day after the May issue of Yankees Magazine hit the newsstands that features my profile of Monahan. Geno and I spent a couple of days together at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., back in February. The eldest son of a family of eight that migrated south from Pennsylvania, Monahan got a taste of baseball as a teenager and never looked back.
The normally reticent trainer let his hair down a little bit in the interview and takes us through a fascinating career on the front lines of a storied franchise that made a stirring comeback to major prominence during the Steinbrenner era. Look for Alex Rodriguez on the cover and enjoy a trip down Geno’s memory lane.
Monahan is the longest-tenured head athletic trainer in the majors, having worked in that capacity for the past 39 years. In December, he was honored along with longtime assistant Steve Donohue as the Best Athletic Trainers in Major League Baseball in 2010 by the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainer Society. Other recent commendations include the 2009 Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award from the National Athletic Trainers Association and induction into the New York State Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2007. Monahan and Donohue were also honored with Major League Baseball’s Athletic Training Staff of the Year Award in 1990.
Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement, “Gene Monahan embodies all the very best virtues that this organization strives to uphold. His devotion to his craft, passion for the game of baseball and tireless work ethic are only a few of the qualities that have made him a bedrock within this franchise for nearly 50 years. Gene has made a lifetime’s worth of sacrifices and contributions in order to best serve the Yankees, and our entire organization will always be grateful.”
Is Munson Hall-worthy?
On the 31st anniversary of Thurman Munson’s death in a small plane crash, discussion among Yankees fans often centers on why he is not in the Hall of Fame. The answer is simple. He was not elected. The question is: Why?
Munson is one of the strangest cases in Hall of Fame voting, which is conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America of members with 10 or more consecutive years of coverage. On the face of it, his credentials are impressive. The hard-nosed catcher earned Rookie of the Year (1970) and Most Valuable Player (1976) honors from the BBWAA, drove in 100 or more runs three times, batted .300 five times, won three Gold Gloves, was named to seven All-Star teams and was one of the centerpieces of Yankees teams that won two World Series.
So what went wrong come election time? For one thing, his career was short. Munson played in 11 seasons and hit .292 with 113 home runs. Hall of Fame voters tend to lose for comparisons when voting. There was one obvious comparison for Munson, and that was Roy Campanella, the Brooklyn Dodgers catcher of the 1950s whose career was also shortened (to 10 years) because of a tragic auto accident that paralyzed him.
In his decade in the majors, Campy batted .276 with 242 home runs, played on five World Series teams (winning only once, in 1955), drove in more than 100 runs three times, hit .300 three times, was named to eight All-Star teams and was the National League MVP three times. The Gold Glove was not established until 1957, his last season, but he was acknowledged as one of the game’s best receivers and handlers of pitchers. The writers elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1969 in his fifth year of eligibility.
There does not seem to be much difference, does there? Well, there was one major difference between the two, and that was the matter of personality. Munson was popular with many of his teammates, from Bobby Murcer to Lou Piniella to Jim “Catfish” Hunter to Goose Gossage and beyond, but he was not as well liked by writers for the most part.
Munson had a prickly relationship with the press. He was gruff and impatient. Campanella, on the other hand, was one of the nicest human beings to grace a major-league clubhouse. Extremely popular with teammates and the press alike, Campy’s departure from the game left a definite void, and writers felt he was deserving of Hall recognition eventually.
Should how a player treats the press matter in Hall voting? No, and in most cases it doesn’t. Truth be told, Mickey Mantle wasn’t very sweet with writers during his career. Neither were Willie Mays or Hank Aaron or Warren Spahn or Frank Robinson. And BBWAA members could write encyclopedias about how nasty Eddie Murray was to them. Not everybody in baseball is Yogi Berra or Stan Musial or Ernie Banks. Yet the malicious ones were voted into the Hall by writers anyway, so it is not about that.
What did hurt Munson was that perhaps due to his standoffishness with the press he had no one or previous few championing his case other than Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, whose opinion was prejudiced to say the least. The Boss felt his players should have won every award for which they were candidates and berated voters if it didn’t happen, so his campaigning carried no weight.
Munson’s best vote total was his first year on the ballot, in 1981, when he received 62 votes for 15 percent. He never got more than 10 percent of the vote after that. Munson remained on the ballot the full 15 years, which is amazing considering that he annually gathered only 30 to 40 votes.
My own view is that Munson’s chance to make the Hall was hurt by his going on the ballot immediately. The five-year waiting rule that went into effect in the mid-1950s is waved in the case of players who die. When Roberto Clemente was killed in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve in 1972, there was a movement by writers to override the five-year wait and vote him in. A special election was held during spring training in 1973 and Clemente received 93 percent of the vote.
Clemente was a fairly obvious Hall of Fame choice, however, with 3,000 hits, an MVP Award, a World Series MVP and a dozen Gold Gloves, even though his relationship with the press was along the lines of Munson’s.
The five-year waiting period is a good rule. It allows perspective to become part of the equation in evaluating a player’s career. Campanella had to wait five years because he did not die. Munson went on the ballot too soon for his supporters’ good. Had writers been able to step back for five years and then look at his career, I feel that his chances would have been better.
Now Munson’s case falls to the Veterans Committee. As chairman of the BBWAA’s Historical Overview Committee which forms the Veterans Committee ballots, I can tell you that Munson get his day in court and just may make it one of these years.
Old Timers remember 1950
The theme of the Yankees’ 64th Old Timers Day Saturday, July 17, at Yankee Stadium will be the 60th anniversary of their World Series championship over the Philadelphia Phillies’ “Whiz Kids.” Seven members of that Yankees team that won the second of a record five consecutive championships under Casey Stengel will be on hand for the reunion that begins at 2 p.m. with introductions, followed by the traditional Old Timers Game, all of which will be aired on YES.
The Yankees’ regularly scheduled game against American League East rival Tampa Bay will start at 4:05 p.m. on FOX.
Hall of Famers Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra will headline the event with 1950 teammates Jerry Coleman, Charlie Silvera, Don Johnson, Duane Pillette and Hank Workman. Other Yankees stars from the past, including Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage and Rickey Henderson, will be on hand, along with former first baseman Cecil Fielder, a member of the Yankees’ 1996 World Series champions, who will make his Old Timers Day debut.
It is also the first Old Timers Day appearances for Johnson, Pillette and Workman, who played on the 1950 Yankees but were not on the post-season roster. Johnson and Pillette, both pitchers, were traded to the St. Louis Browns June 15, then the trading deadline. Workman, a first baseman, played in only five games and was 1-for-5 in his only big-league season.
Ford was a rookie that year and was 9-1. He was the winning pitcher in the clinching Game 4 as the Yankees completed their only sweep in the five-year run. Berra, who hit .322 with 28 home runs and 124 RBI, drove in two runs in that final game with a first-inning single and a sixth-inning home run. Coleman, the long-time broadcaster for the Padres, was the regular second baseman and hit .287 during the season and was the RBI leader in the Series with three. Silvera was Yogi’s backup behind the plate.
Three other living members of that team – pitcher Fred Sanford, catcher Ralph Houk and third baseman Bobby Brown – were invited but are not able to attend.
Joining the 1950 veterans will be more than 30 additional former Yankees and the widows of four of the team’s legends – Arlene Howard, widow of Elston Howard; Helen Hunter, widow of Jim “Catfish” Hunter; Kay Murcer, widow of Bobby Murcer; and Diana Munson, widow of Thurman Munson.
The complete roster:
Luis Arroyo, Jesse Barfield, Yogi Berra, Ron Blomberg, Homer Bush, Rick Cerone, Chris Chambliss, Horace Clarke, Jerry Coleman, David Cone, Bucky Dent, Al Downing, Brian Doyle, Mike Easler, Dave Eiland, Cecil Fielder, Whitey Ford, Oscar Gamble, Joe Girardi, Goose Gossage, Ron Guidry, Charlie Hayes, Rickey Henderson, Arlene Howard, Helen Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Don Johnson, Pat Kelly, Don Larsen, Hector Lopez, Lee Mazzilli, Gene Michael, Diana Munson, Kay Murcer, Jerry Narron, Jeff Nelson, Graig Nettles, Joe Pepitone, Duane Pillette, Mickey Rivers, Charlie Silvera, Moose Skowron, Aaron Small, Mel Stottlemyre, Ralph Terry, Mike Torrez, Bob Turley, Roy White, Hank Workman.
Versatility required for ailing Yanks
An expression you will hear from people in baseball goes along the line of “that rabbit will find you.” The rabbit, of course, is the white baseball, and it always seems to go where you least want it to.
That came on the very first batter the Yankees faced Friday night, Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, who lined out to left field. The left fielder for the Yankees was Kevin Russo, who was recently recalled from Triple A Scranton/Wilkes Barre to help fill some vacancies caused by all the injuries. Russo, an infielder by traded, played second base and third base mostly in the minors, but earlier this month he started five games in the outfield.
“We have had him play some games in the outfield in Triple A just for these kinds of situations,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “Kevin is very athletic.”
By “such situations,” Girardi referred to what is going on with the Yankees now. Center fielder Curtis Granderson is on the disabled list because of a groin strain. Marcus Thames is day-to-day due to a left ankle sprain. Nick Swisher is back in the lineup now after missing five games due to tightness in his left bicep. The Yankees had been forced to use utility infielder Ramiro Pena in the outfield on occasion.
Sometimes, the player finds the rabbit, which Russo did in the second inning with a line single to left. The hit advanced Francisco Cervelli, who led off the inning with a walk, to third base with none out. Javier Vazquez dropped down a perfect bunt to push Russo to second, but the Yankees failed to capitalize as Derek Jeter was called out on strikes and Brett Gardner grounded out.
The Yankees put runners in scoring position again in the fourth. After Alex Rodriguez got an infield single with one out, Robinson Cano had an impressive at-bat with a foul home run into the right field upper deck followed by a fair double off the left field wall. Again, the Yankees came up short. Swisher, batting right-handed but looking as if the bicep was a factor, chased a ball off the plate for strike three, and Cervelli flied out.
Russo went rabbit hunting again in the top of the seventh and lined a double down the right field line to break a scoreless tie and give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Russo handled four chances in the field without incident before being replaced by Randy Winn in the bottom of the inning. Nice night, kid.
Looking out at the layout of Citi Field, the Mets’ two-year-old park, made me think of the late Bobby Murcer, whose career was affected by the renovation of Yankee Stadium more than any other player. The Yankees played at the Mets’ former home, Shea Stadium, for two years while “The House That Ruth Built” was getting a once over.
Murcer played for the Yankees in only one of those seasons, 1974, and hit only 10 home runs. The dimensions at Shea hurt Murcer, whose left-handed swing was perfect for Yankee Stadium’s cozy porch in right field. Over the previous five seasons, Murcer had hit 22, 33, 25, 23 and 26 home runs. The Yankees traded him the next year to the Giants for Bobby Bonds.
Citi Field would have given Murcer nightmares just as well, maybe even more. The distance to the right field foul pole is 330 feet, but it expands to between 378 and 415 feet to right-center. There is an enclosed picnic area that is another six feet past the 378 sign and has a wall that rises to 17 feet. This would have been just as difficult a target for Babe Ruth.
Jack O'Connell
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