October 22, 1974: The Murcer-Bonds Trade

October 22, 1974: The Yankees and the San Francisco Giants swap popular star outfielders: Bobby Bonds goes to New York, and Bobby Murcer heads to San Francisco. Bonds hit 32 home runs and stole 32 bases in 1975‚ becoming only the 2nd member of "the 30-30 Club" for any of The City's baseball teams. (The 1st was Willie Mays of the 1956 Giants.)

Bonds got off to a rough start, before adjusting to the different style of pitching in the American League. He went on a tear in May. But a knee injury in Chicago on June 7 wrecked his season. He later admitted that he should have gotten surgery, missed the rest of the season, and come back stronger in 1976.

Instead, he played on, and never quite adapted to New York. After just the 1 season, he was traded to the California Angels for outfielder Mickey Rivers and pitcher Ed Figueroa. They turned out to be 2 major figures in the Yankees' revival, so Bonds' greatest value to the Yankees was as trade bait.

Today, Bonds is known 3rd for his amazing combination of power and speed, 2nd for being traded so many times, and 1st for being the father of Barry Bonds. That really isn't fair, as Bobby was a fantastic player, one of the best of the 1970s.

As for Murcer, he felt betrayed. Team owner George Steinbrenner had promised him he would be "a Yankee for life." But Steinbrenner had been suspended from operation of the team, and wasn't reinstated until 1976. So general manager Gabe Paul made the call.

Murcer loved the city of San Francisco, but hated playing in cold, windy Candlestick Park, both as a batter and as an outfielder. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1977, and he enjoyed Wrigley Field a lot more. (Sure, Wrigley also has wind issues, but it is also much more of a hitter's park.)

Still, Murcer was heartbroken to be traded by the Yankees, to whom he had given as much as anybody could in those dark years between 1964 and 1976, and swore he would never forgive them for trading him. But in 1979, Steinbrenner traded to get him back, and Bobby jumped at the chance, and he remained a part of the Yankee family, as a player until 1983, and then as a broadcaster until his death in 2008. He titled his autobiography Yankee For Life. It made sense, because, as much as he could, Steinbrenner kept his word.

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October 22, 1974 was a Tuesday. The baseball season had ended 5 days before, with the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Football was in midweek. There were 6 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Houston Rockets, 110-100 at Madison Square Garden. Bill Bradley led the Knicks with 22 points.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 125-92. John Drew scored 42 for the Hawks.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the New Orleans Jazz, 134-118 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Bob McAdoo had 33 points and 22 rebounds. The Braves became the San Diego Clippers in 1978, and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1984. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City in 1979, becoming the Utah Jazz.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls, 92-90 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 123-121 at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. (It's now named the Hy-Vee Arena.) Elvin Hayes scored 35 points for the Bullets, who became the Washington Wizards in 1997.

The Kings stopped playing the occasional game in Omaha after this season, and became just the Kansas City Kings, then the Sacramento Kings in 1985.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 107-106 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association:

* The San Diego Conquistadors beat the Memphis Sounds, 109-106 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. Travis Grant scored 41 for the visiting "Q's."

* And the Virginia Squires beat the Spirts of St. Louis, 118-112 at the St. Louis Arena, known from 1973 to 1981 as the Checkerdome.

There were 4 games played in the National Hockey League:

* The New York Islanders beat the Atlanta Flames, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. Bob Bourne scored the winner with just 43 seconds left in regulation.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Washington Capitals, 3-0 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. This was the down period in which the Detroit team was known as the Dead Things, but the expansion Caps put together the worst season, winning-percentage-wise, in NHL history. Famously, they didn't win a game on the road until their last try, and skated around the ice with a trash can, in imitation of having won the Stanley Cup.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. The Flyers had won the Cup the season before, and would again this season -- but haven't won it since.

* And the Minnesota North Stars beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And there were games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Houston Aeros, 7-2 at the Colisee de Quebec. In spite of this loss, the Aeros, led by a line of ageless Gordie Howe and his sons Mark and Marty, would repeat as WHA Champions.

* The Toronto Toros beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 11-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* And the San Diego Mariners beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 5-2 at the San Diego Sports Arena. 

August 6, 1979: The Munson Memorial Game

Bobby Murcer, hugged by Ron Guidry (left) and Lou Piniella

August 6, 1979: The New York Yankees return from Canton, Ohio, where they attended the funeral of Thurman Munson, their catcher and team Captain, who had been killed in a plane crash there 4 days earlier.

There was a question of whether they would get back in time to play that night’s nationally televised game against the Baltimore Orioles. Team owner George Steinbrenner, a man who liked to say, "To me, winning is second to breathing," said going to the funeral was more important: "If we don't make it back, we'll forfeit."

They got back in time. On ABC Monday Night Baseball, Howard Cosell, a man so often seemingly like he was born without tact, remembered that he was a professional journalist, and handled the situation superbly. He spoke well of Munson, and broadcast an interview he had done with Munson on a recent broadcast, in which Munson spoke of possibly retiring to spend more time with his family. Instead, at the age of 32, he had no future.

Keith Jackson, better known for college football, was the play-by-play announcer. Ron Guidry started for New York, Dennis Martinez for Baltimore. Munson's death had left the Yankees with only 1 catcher on their major league roster: Jerry Narron, who had played exactly 29 major league games, batting .188. The Yankees activated their bullpen catcher, Brad Gulden, who had played in 3, all the previous season, with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Orioles led 4-0 at the 7th Inning Stretch, including home runs by Lee May and Ken Singleton, who later became a Yankee broadcaster. But with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th, Bucky Dent drew a walk, and Willie Randolph doubled. Bobby Murcer, a Yankee star who had been traded away and recently reacquired, Munson's best friend and, along with Lou Piniella, one of the eulogists at Munson's funeral, hit a home run to bring the Yankees to within 4-3.

Murcer and Munson in 1973.

Note the Yankee Stadium 50th Anniversary sleeve patches.

Felix "Tippy" Martinez replaced Dennis. (They were not related: Tippy was from Colorado and of Mexican descent, while Dennis was from Nicaragua.) The game remained 4-3 going into the bottom of the 9th. Dent led off with another walk. Randolph tried to bunt him over, but Eddie Murray, the Orioles' best all-around player, dropped the throw at 1st base, putting Dent on 3rd base and Randolph on 2nd. And Murcer hit a drive into the left-field corner, scoring Dent with the tying run, and Randolph with the winning run: Yankees 5, Orioles 4.

The Yankees mobbed Murcer, most of them in tears. A crowd of 36,314 was crying along with them. This game has been called the only time the home fans left Yankee Stadium crying after a win.

But losing Munson was the latest and worst in a series of events that had troubled the Yankees all season long. They never got going, and finished 4th, 13 1/2 games behind the Orioles, who went on to end the Yankees' 3-year run atop the American League Eastern Division, and then win the AL Pennant.

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August 6, 1979 was, as I said, a Monday. These other 5 games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 16-12 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Yes, that's a baseball game, not football. The Royals scored 11 runs in the 7th inning. George Brett went 2-for-4 with a walk and 4 RBIs. Pete LaCock went 4-for-6 with 2 RBIs. Freddie Patek went 3-for-4 with a walk and 5 RBIs. Despite all of that, they hit no home runs. For the Jays, former Royal John Mayberry and Rico Carty hit home runs, and Rick Cerone, who would become the Yankees' catcher the next season, went 3-for-4 with 5 RBIs.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with a walk.

* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Bobby Grich hit a home run. Rod Carew went 2-for-5. Rookie Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3 with a walk, but had an RBI on a groundout.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle.