...at my first Cubs game at Wrigley. He had a couple of big hits and he became one of my favorite players as a youth. I will always cherish those memories and I am sad to hear of his passing.

Thanks for posting

you couldn’t have said “passed away” or something?

... I thought he was recovering from his brain surgery.

In any case, Murcer produced for about 75% of his first season with the Cubs. Through August 22 he was hitting .280/.374/.492 with 24 HR and 83 RBI—those were very good numbers for that lower-offense era. On that day he homered in the 8th inning, his 24th, helping the Cubs beat the Giants 3-2. He was on pace for a 30+ HR, 100+ RBI season.

And then he fell off the face of the Earth—over the final 40 games of 1977 he hit .217/.287/.349 with 3 HR and 6 RBI. That’s right, six RBI in 36 games (he sat out four of the last 40). The Cubs, in 2nd place, 7.5 games out on August 22 with a 70-53 record and still marginally in contention, went 11-28 the rest of the year and finished fourth.

Murcer hit only nine HR in 1978 and 7 in half a year in 1979 before he was traded back to the Yankees, his original team. By then he was being booed out of Wrigley Field.

I just don’t understand someone suddenly losing his power like this—it was as if a switch had been turned off.

I’m sad to hear of the passing of a relatively young man - 62 years old - but his time as a Cub wasn’t really a happy one.

I barely remember him when he went back to the Yankees. But I do remember him as a Yankees announcer in the late 1980’s. As the linked story mentions, he’s the only Yankee to play with both Mantle and Mattingly. He’s a little like Mattingly actually, in that they both barely missed out on some great Yankee teams (Murcer in the 70’s, Mattingly in the 90’s). At least Murcer did get to play in the 1981 World Series. But 62 is too young to die.

My memories of Bobby Murcer in a Cub uniform aren’t good, for the simple reason he was terrible in Cub blue. But he always seemed like a class professional who gave what he had to give.

Bobby Murcer scratched out a nice career. Sad to see him pass on at too early of an age.

rest in peace bobby.

Mixed emotions when the he came to the Cubs, because it meant losing Madlock (why?????), and because he kind of replaced Rick Monday as the team’s left-handed outfield slugger, even taking his uniform number 7. But he was a Yankee star and he got off to such a great start that those things were forgotten about ….. until he stopped hitting five months later.

I was in labor with my oldest son watching a very long Cubs game. We still hadn’t decided on a name. I told my husband if Bobby Murcer hit a home run, our son would be Robert. Rob will be 31 this month. That was a great season. I would put the baby down for a nap and watch the Cubs.