Everyone except my friend Letizia, who told anyone who would listen that Murcer was the better hitter. And he turned out to be right. Bonds hit 32 homeruns that first and only year in NY, and stole 33 bases, and batted .270 and threw out a lot of runners with that rifle arm. IT WAS THE WORST 32 HOMER 33 SB .270 YEAR I’D EVER SEEN.

Bonds struck out A TON. He was a pure guess hitter — homerun, popup, or strikeout. If he came up with a runner on third and less than two outs, he would never, ever get that runner it. It was a guaranteed popup or strikeout. In this way, he was very, very much like Alex Rodriguez is today, and that is why so many people who watch Rodriquez everyday can’t stand him despite his gaudy numbers.

So you had to bat Bonds leadoff to get him out of the middle of the lineup, where he killed you. But now you’re wasting your 32 homeruns in the leadoff spot, where they are often hit with noone on base, and you’re paying top dollar for a power hitter who’s batting leadoff. And thus Bonds kept getting traded.

Murcer on the other hand, was a terrific hitter. His numbers don’t shine as much in retrospect because we’ve been spoiled by the gaudy numbers of the steroids/small ballpark/tight-strike-zone nineties and 2000′s. Murcer was a legitimate triple-crown threat in ’71 and ’72. He hit the ball where it was pitched, and so was a more lethal hitter in tight situations. He was a ‘situational hitter’. Aka a ‘good hitter’. And a great baserunner too — very heads up. He didn’t have Bonds’ arm (although he did lead the league in assists one year as a centerfielder). I could go into more detail; see my article on Bobby Murcer at http://www.paperbacknovel.com/sports/bobbymurcer.htm

In the end though, this trade of Murcer for Bonds ended up being a great trade for the Yankees. They turned around and traded Bonds to the California Angels for Ed Figueroa (who had just won 7 games in his rookie year) and Mickey Rivers (also very young at the time) which became the cornerstone move in the 3 pennants and 2 world championships the Yankees would win in the next 3 years.

Gus and Fer said…
Sparky Lyle writes at some length about Bobby Bonds in THE BRONX ZOO, describing him as the classic player that always looks better playing for someone else… and then your team trades for him. Something about eventually having to bat Bonds lead-off because he struck out so much? I don’t have the book in front of me, but Sparky’s grasp of sabermetric principles may have been a bit off. Or maybe not.

11:38 AM

Josh Wilker said…
I laughed more at The Bronx Zoo than at any book I’ve ever read, with the possible exception of Bruce Jay Friedman’s A Mother’s Kisses. I don’t recall the Bobby Bonds stuff (I read the book when I was 11), but I remember a lot of birthday cakes in the clubhouse ruined by Lyle’s altar ego, the Mad Bare-Assed Cake-Sitter.

1:00 PM

Gus and Fer said…
Josh, we were roughly the same age when we read (and enjoyed) that book. I knew all the Yankees from NBC’s Game of the Week and all the other players from Topps, like yourself and most young Americans in the sweet harmless days before ESPN and the inter-web. I feel sure 11-year-old boys were the target audience for the book, then and now; reading it as an adult, I get a mixture of resentment (jackasses like the ones that tormented me all throughout school were multi-millionaires in their 20s and still doing the same stupid shit?!?) and revulsion (did I really want Sparky Lyle to be my best friend?!?). Growing old ain’t all bad.

But yes, reading about cake frosting sliding up one’s asscrack is still triumphant literature. I recommend THE BRONX ZOO to all 11-year-olds and those still 11 at heart.

2:20 PM

El Person said…
Talk about Yankee-at-Heart—in this great book (SF Giants: An Oral History — Mike Mandel), Murcer denied ever being a Giant.