Yankee for Life: My 40-Year Journey in Pinstripes » (Bargain)

Bobby Murcer enjoyed an outstanding seventeen-year major- league career with the Yankees, Giants, and Cubs, and afterward spent twenty-five years in the Yankees broadcast booth as a play-by-play announcer. Murcer died of cancer in July 2008.

The final chapter of Yankee for Life, "Play Ball!", was unintentionally omitted from the paperback edition. We apologize for this oversight. Click here to download the missing chapter.

A heartwarming and personal memoir by former Yankees great Bobby Murcer about his many years in pinstripes and his courageous fight against cancer.

When Bobby Murcer opened the 1965 season in pinstripes as a New York Yankee, he faced impossible odds. Like his immediate predecessor, he was a phenom from Oklahoma. Like his predecessor, he came up as a shortstop and was turned into a centerfielder. Like his predecessor, he took his first at-bat as a Yankee when he was 19. But unlike his predecessor, Bobby Murcer wasn't Mickey Mantle.

Bobby Murcer was a very good baseball player, the best player on a series of mediocre Yankee teams. But "The Mick" was a great baseball player, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, a three-time MVP who led the Yankees to seven World Championships. How could Bobby Murcer possibly live up to the expectations of Yankee fans? How could he possibly be the Next Mickey Mantle? He couldn't. He didn't. And yet, over a span of 12 seasons in the Bronx, Bobby Murcer became one of the most popular Yankees of all time, as beloved a figure in pinstripes as... his predecessor.

Yankee for Life is the story of Bobby Murcer's career as a ballplayer and of his current career as a commentator and analyst for Yankee baseball on TV (since 1983). It's the inside story of lifelong friendships with Yankee legends -- Yogi Berra (who has written the foreword to the book), Phil Rizzuto, Thurman Munson and ... yes, his predecessor.

But that's only half the story. Just before Christmas 2006, Bobby Murcer and his wife and oldest friend, Kay Murcer, went to Houston's M. D. Anderson for some tests, including a biopsy and an MRI. He'd told some close friends about the trip, so when he got the results -- a cancerous brain tumor that required surgery the following day -- he had to call them back and tell them he and Kay wouldn't be home for Christmas.

The second half of Bobby Murcer's story is about his courageous, inspiring, and -- yes -- upbeat struggle against cancer. The two stories combine in a surprising, funny, insightful tale about baseball, family, and courage, told by a true Yankee for Life.

Publishers Weekly

Murcer may not be one of the most famous New York Yankees , but he comes across as one of the most likeable in this new memoir. Few young boys grow up to fulfill their childhood ambitions, but Murcer's one of the lucky ones, meeting his "lifelong dream" of signing with the Yankees at the age of 19 (1965 was his rookie year with the team). True to its title, the long-time New York player/broadcaster describes the day he was traded from the Yankees to the Giants in 1974 as a "nightmare," and how it "ripped his heart out" watching his beloved club win two World Series during his four-year absence from the team. None of Murcer's on-the-field stories are particularly notable, and most non-Yankee fans may roll their eyes at Murcer's somewhat overbearing passion for the team many love to hate. But the human side to the man shines through, especially when relating stories of his friend Thurman Munson's tragic death, and most importantly, his own battle with brain cancer. Murcer gives a glimpse into his struggle in the opening chapter before encapsulating what any family goes through in the book's closing pages. There are laughs sprinkled in as well, mostly concentrated in the chapter about Murcer's quirky broadcast partner, Phil Rizzuto ("WW" in the scorebook, in Rizzuto's mind, stands for "Wasn't Watching").
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Foreword: A True Yankee   Yogi Berra     ix
Introduction: A Dream Come True   Derek Jeter     xi
Preface: Yankee for Life     xiii
A Major League Headache     1
Boomer Sooner     11
Bound for Glory...     25
... But a Ways to Go     31
Welcome to the Big Leagues, Kid     41
The Great Depression     55
Changing Times     73
Life in Exile     91
Homecoming     111
The Long Goodbye     127
How Do I Get Up to the Booth?     141
"Murcer, You Huckleberry!"     167
Me and Mick     179
A Family Affair     187
Pinstripe All-Stars, 1969-Today     199
A Wonderful Town     215
No Smoking in the Dugout     229
Piece of Cake!     241
Happy New Year!     259
My New Team     273
A Whole New Ball Game     283
Play Ball!     301