Throwback Th ... er, Friday: 31 years ago yesterday was Bobby Murcer Day at Yankee Stadium

OK, I'm a day late with this, so sue me.

Aug. 7, 1983, was Bobby Murcer Day at the Stadium (the real Stadium; you remember that one, right? The one they tore down?). Let's take a trip down memory lane:

Bobby gets a well-deserved ovation, plus a new rocking chair and a 1983 version of a hi-def TV. And, hey, that's Don Zimmer on the steps of the dugout!

Bobby with his family and his broadcast partner, Frank Messer, who was Master of Ceremonies. My seats for the day were way out in left field, but I blended in with a bunch of drunks (who were returning from the beer line) to get past the usher and sneak into the area right behind the third-base dugout for the ceremony (you know, the seats that are always empty nowadays? A special note to our newest Yankees fans ... this is what it looks like when there are actual fans in the actual seats near the actual field. I know, this might be the first time you have actually seen this phenomenon. It might be jarring. It's OK. Take a deep breath and stay with me.)

Bobby got a cowboy hat as a gift (plus a big honking Chrysler convertible that's off to the right). Guidry and Gossage also presented him with a new guitar. You may recall he was a country singer then (Remember his song "Skoal Dippin' Man"? ... well, let's just say he would never be confused with The Baseball Project, who, as el Duque noted a few days ago, are the Bruce Springsteens of baseball. And a little bit of trivia: A few years after recording that ode to chewing tobacco, Murcer changed his views and became an anti-chewing-tobacco activist. So there.).

The "awwwwww" photo of the day. Bobby with Diana Munson. And, hey, there's Sweet Lou standing behind Bobby's family. And I have no clue who the grumpy-looking guy in the middle is. In the IDs I wrote on the back of the photo, he's listed as "some unknown guy with the sponsor."

 

Dave Winfield said a few words. I don't remember a thing he said. I'm sure it was very inspiring (Murcer's family certainly looks inspired). Howie Spira was somewhere around taking notes, I'm guessing.

You know, the first Bobby Murcer Day was so cool, they need to do it again -- say, when they put his plaque in Monument Park on Old Timer's Day 2015 (are you listening, Hal??? Huh?? I don't ask for much ... make that happen!!).