Even though I am a Mets fan, I have to say that the loss of Bobby Murcer was very upsetting to me also. Although I do not like the Yankees, it’s not the players I despise as much as I do their fans. I like a lot of Yankee players and would welcome many of them on the Mets. As Jerry Seinfeld has said in one of his comedy routines, “ultimately, it’s really the laundry that we root for”.

The death of Bobby Murcer is tragic to all of New York baseball fans. Don’t forget, when Murcer first played across the river, it was during a time when the Mets were enjoying their first run of glory. His first full season was in 1969. While the Mets were fashioning an improbable world championship season, Murcer was playing in front of rather small crowds at the old Yankee Stadium. That season Bobby played in 152 games and hit .259 with 26 homeruns and 82 RBI. He never lived up to the hype of being the next Mantle but he certainly was a very good player and a Yankees drawing card.

As kids, those of us who were Mets fans tuned in to WPIX channel 11 in New York to root against the Yankees. So we were always aware what our cross-town rivals were up to. We knew the Yankee players as well as the Mets players. We just did not root for them. Murcer was one of those players. And while we were enamored with young Mets players like Cleon Jones, Tom Seaver, and Jerry Koosman, we knew the young Murcer had the potential of being a major threat for the hated Yankees.

Murcer continued to play well through the early seventies then something happened that changed his career. The Yankees and the city of New York decided to rebuild Yankee Stadium on the same grounds as the old one. While the work was to take place, the Yankees would play their home games in Shea Stadium. Murcer had averaged about 25 home runs a season in the old Yankee Stadium. With its short porch, Murcer’s left handed bat was perfect for the Stadium. And don’t forget that home runs were down during that pre-designated hitter era so 25 was a lot. 

When Murcer and the rest of the Bombers moved to Queens, something became terribly obvious. The right field fence was no where as close to home plate as it was at Yankee Stadium. Murcer hit only 10 homeruns in 1974. That prompted the Yankees to trade him to San Francisco for Bobby Bonds. Yankee fans went crazy. it was an extremely unpopular trade. Murcer was quoted on many occasions that it was the worst period of his career. So in a weird way, Shea Stadium, home of the Mets, had a major but negative impact on Bobby Murcer.

Murcer was eventually traded from the Giants to the Cubs then finally back to the Yankees. While he was in the National League, Bobby played many games at Shea Stadium and I’m sure he hated every one of them. Murcer finished his career with the Yankees and eventually went on to be a broadcaster for them. He was a major part of New York baseball and regardless of my bias toward the orange and blue, I will miss Murcer and I’m sure that goes for all Mets fans.