Yankee for Life: My 40-Year Journey in Pinstripes

by Bobby Murcer and Glen Waggoner

Book Overview

"A lovely reminiscence about Murcer's] baseball and broadcasting career and his fight with cancer. . . a gentlemanly memoir." -- New York Times

As he stepped to the plate at Yankee Stadium on opening day in 1966, Bobby Murcer carried with him the hopes and expectations of Yankees fans looking for the next Mickey Mantle. Bobby wasn't the next Mick, of course, but he became one of the most beloved Yankees of all time.

Yankee...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061473413
• ISBN13: 9780061473418
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Great Book by a Great Yankee Player and Human Being

This book is more than a autobiographical book about a great Yankee baseball star of the 1970s and 1980s. It also relates his experiences with brain cancer (a glioma to be exact) from which Bobby ultimately died. Further it provides some stories of other great Yankee and baseball greats, including Lou Pinella, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra and Thurman Munson. It provides an inside look of what these individuals were like as human beings in a very human way - their strengths and weaknesses. It also provides some very humorous stories - one that has to do with Lou Pinella's travels with a large boat that he bought via the highways, the continual comments of Lou on hitting, the competitiveness of Thurman Munson, the eccentricities of Phil Rizzuto. It is all here. I highly recommend this book for any Yankee fan and baseball fan of the 1970s and 1980s.

Yankee for Life.

I hate the Yankees but have tons of friends that give me Evil Empire books because they know I love baseball and that I HATE THE YANKEES. But thsi book is great. If you love the Yankees then you need to buy this book. Bobby Murcer is a legend that all young fans should know about. Bobby was also mentioned in New York Yankees: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports (Sports by the Numbers) great companion guide to any Yankees book.

yankee for life: my 40-year journey in pinstripes

it was saturday night , i turned on the news in new york on channel 4 to hear worst news possible-BOBBY MURCER DIED OF CANCER..i was in tears.. i always admired the man..he was a true honrable yankee who loved the game, THE YANKEE, the fans and sharing his stories with us while he broadcast yankee games..i remember his terrific plays...his heroic performances as a yankee during the 70s and 80s..i can not believe he's gone..his book does him proud..to me he was a legend.. as a devoted yankee fan for 30 years i will never forget him...BOBBY YOU WILL ALWAYS BE IN MY HEART FOREVER.. CHARLES UNTERBERG YANKEE FAN AND GREAT FAN OF MURCER..

Poignant, Touching Celebration of A Great Life

Bobby Murcer says he lives a Great Life. He played baseball for his favorite team, married his high-school sweetheart and is loved and admired by millions of fans. This is a great book that chronicles the many stages of Bobby's career: from high school, to Major Leaguer, to Announcer... and now... Bobby's biggest challenge yet, brain cancer. You can't help but admire the Murcer family's courage (yes, his family plays a huge role in Bobby's journey), as they face a gigantic curveball, larger than any hook tossed by any major league hurler. You'll also love Bobby's hilarious stories about life on the field and in the broadcast booth. Don't miss Bobby's eyebrow-raising pick for all-time Yankee All-Star team (you'll be surprised at who he picked and who he left off.) My family has been a Bobby Murcer fan since his Toledo Mudhen days. But this book makes me view Bobby in a whole new light.. as a spiritual, family man courageously battling the most devastating of diseases. Read it for the baseball. Read it for the humor. Read it for the inspiration. Just make sure you read it.

Now Playing Center Field Bobby Murcer!!!

"Yankee For Life", the new 320 page autobiography by Bobby Murcer proves to be an entertaining look back on the baseball life of one time allstar and former Yankee Bobby Murcer. As Mickey Mantle's baseball career was winding down in the late sixties, a young lad from Oklahoma, Bobby Murcer was to be the next yankee star. Just like Mantle, he was from the same home state, and started his career at shortstop, and eventually found his way to centerfield. Bobby never lived up to the Mickey Mantle comparisons, but he became a star ball player on some of the weakest Yankee teams in history during the sixties and early seventies. For a young yankee fan during that time period, he was all we had, until the arrival of Thurman Munson. Although he never put up Hall Of Fame numbers, Bobby Murcer was a solid player who went on to become one of the most beloved Yankees in history. He even hit Four consecutive homers against the Cleveland Indians during a doubleheader in the early seventies. It pained him a great deal, in 1975, when the Yankees traded him to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Bonds. That trade backfired on the yankees, as Bonds was gone after one season. Murcer spent the next several years with the Giants and Cubs of the National league, still making allstar teams, but never happy about being out of pinstripes. During the late seventies, the Chicago Cubs made Murcer available, and George Steinbrenner brought Bobby home to the Yankees to finish his playing career. He chronicles in detail, the first game after Thurman Munsons tragic death in 1979, in which he drove in all five runs against the Orioles, as he honored his best friend with a game that will live forever in Yankee history. He eneded his career as the most productive pinch hitter in baseball. His baseball career however, did not stop, when his playing days were over. Bobby Murcer made himself into one of the most respected baseball play by play announcers in baseball. He was and still is an Emmy award winning Yankee commentator who remains as popular as ever with the fans. On a serious note, Bobby was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2006, and he goes into great detail about his battle with the disease, which continues to this very day. He makes no secret of his love for his family, friends and his fans. This book is written as only Bobby would allow it to be published, and that is a good and honest life story without the use of vulgarities. It is a book that you would let your children read, and not worry about unacceptable content. I've watched Bobby Murcer since I was a 9 year old Yankee fan in 1968, and I have followed him through his 40 year journey in baseball. He is a true gentlemen, and defines what class is all about. Bobby Murcer is still my favorite Yankee idol, and not because of his on field career, but because of his off field character and integrity, which makes him a role model for my own son. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to read a