In 1979, three nights after Thurman Munson died, Bobby Murcer became a Yankee icon. He'd given the eulogy at Munson's funeral that day. We were in fourth, 14 games out, playing the first-place Orioles. It was Monday Night Baseball on ABC, with Howard Cosell in the booth.
I lived in Norwich, NY, the city that made Pepto-Bismol. I had to cover a town meeting that night. Around 9:30 - regional deadline - I phoned in my story and hit the nearest bar. I'd never been there before. The place was a morgue. Ron Guidry had pitched his heart out, but we weren't hitting. The word-machine, Ken Singleton, homered for Baltimore.
In the seventh, we were down 4-0, no life, no hope. With two outs, Bucky Dent and Willie Randolph got on base, bringing up Bobby. By then, he was no power threat, just a Punch-and-Judy. He slammed a three-run homer. The bar came alive, people shouting at the TV.
Guidry went the distance. In the bottom of the 9th, we were still down 4-3. Dent got on. Randolph sacrificed, and Baltimore threw it away. Men on second and third.
Bobby hit a single to left. Two runs. Game over. The bar went wild. Strangers hugging each other. Cosell was crying. The Yankees mobbed Murcer at home plate. And 30 years later, when Murcer died of cancer, this was the moment most remembered.
Last night, Nick Swisher inscribed himself into Yankee history.
If you're not a fan of Swish, make peace with him. He will be with us forever.
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4 comments:
Thank you Duque. I got called out on Twitter for comparing last night's game to the Munson/Murcer contest. And true, last night's game didn't have anything close to the air of monumental tragedy that the Munson game had. But come on -- how could it not enter your mind? Even the scores were identical. I feel validated.
It is a rule of the universe that whenever a huge off-the-field event takes place -- we're talking seismic scale here -- the following game will go down in memory with it.
Swish is in. They'll be talking about that game for years to come.
Swish is the fucking man. Where would they be this year without him?
I started thinking about the Munson game in the 2d inning.
I felt in my bones that Jeter would get the game-winning hit in the 9th. But apparently this is Swisher's year.
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