Bobby Mercer was the post-Mickey Mantle symbol and heart of the New York Yankees when I was a boy in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although I was a Mets fan at the time, many of my friends, classmates, and neighbors were Yankees fans and adored Mercer, an Oklahoman like Mantle. The Yankees of that era were mediocre at best after a long run of championship successes and contention, and the first successes of the Steinbrenner era were still a few years away, but Mercer was always considered among the best AL outfielders during those down years in the Bronx. Mercer played hard and was a great role model and example for youth. He was the best Yankees player from 1969 to 1974. He was traded to San Francisco after the 1974 season and then moved on to the Chicago Cubs before returning to the Yankees in 1979. He later served as a broadcaster for the club for many years before he was stricken with brain cancer in '06 in the form of a malignant tumor. Although Mercer fought the disease vallantly, he was not able to overcome it. An underappreciated and unrecognized Yankee great to a large extent due to the stars on the club over the years, Mercer is survived by his wife of 42 years, Kay; two children, a brother, and five grandchildren.=
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/sports/baseball/13murcer.html?_r=1&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss&oref=slogin
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Murcer
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