"He was given his idol's locker, and during the first two weeks of the season, Bobby Murcer looked like another Mickey Mantle. The kid from Oklahoma slugged five home runs, drove in 14 runs and hit .415 for the first nine games. After 40 games he topped the league with 40 RBI's. But an ankle injury at the end of May slowed him down, and then a tendency to try and pull everything into the seats sent his average plummeting. He hit only two homers during June and July, but late in the season regained his hitting stroke and confidence to finish with 26 home runs, 82 RBI's and a .259 batting mark.
'I'm satisfied,' said Murcer, 'especially after being in the service for two years. I think it hurt me switching from the infield to the outfield. This year I'll start in the outfield and that should help my hitting.'"
-Jack Zanger, Major League Baseball 1970
"After two years in the Army, shortstop Bobby Murcer broke into the lineup at third base and his bat boomed like a howitzer. At the end of May he was hitting .321, fifth-best in the league, had 11 homers and led the league in runs driven in. A heel injury slowed him up and when he returned, he alternated between right field and center. In the last two months of the season, he hit 14 homers for a season total of 26, led the club with 82 RBIs, and tied Clarke for the club lead in runs scored. Three times he had two homers in one game.
Bobby, his wife and two children - a baby girl and a baby boy - moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey last winter to become a part of the community he represents as a Yankee. At 24 he is one of the players who make the Yankees the youngest club in the league.
As a center fielder this year, Murcer will be working territory that was trodden by Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Bobby, whose idol is Mantle, is by coincidence from the same state, Oklahoma, and was signed by the same scout, Tom Greenwade. In his first season with the Yankees, Mantle hit 23 homers; in his first year, Murcer hit 26. These are only coincidences. And the last person in the world who thinks Bobby Murcer will ever match Mickey Mantle's record is Bobby Murcer. If he can just be close behind in his idol's footsteps, Bobby - and the Yankees - will be very happy."
-The New York Yankees Official 1970 Yearbook
"He's rated as one of the coming stars in the American League. After spending two years in the Army, Bobby broke into the Yankees' starting lineup and tore up the American League in the first month and a half of the season.
He was slowed up somewhat when he injured his left heel on May 30 at Kansas City. At that time he was hitting .321, fifth-best in the league; had 11 homers, fifth-best in the league; and had knocked in 43 runs, which led the league. The injury kept him out of six games, and when he did get back into the lineup he went into a bit of a slump. He didn't hit his next homer until July 8, and his average slipped.
He regained his home run swing the last two months of the season, however, as he hit 14 from July 31 on, winding up with 26 round-trippers, one behind club leader Joe Pepitone. Bobby's 82 RBIs led the club in that important department and he also tied for the club lead in runs scored, as he and Horace Clarke had 82 each. He also had two homers in one game three times.
Bobby opened the season at third base and was later switched to right field. All told he started 31 games at third base, 89 in right field and 28 in center field. Murcer was originally signed as a shortstop by the Yankees in 1964.
He was brought up to the parent club at the tail end of the 1965 season and came north with the big club in 1966; he was sent down to Toledo, however, on May 5. The next two years found him in the Army.
Murcer has all the tools, is a tough hitter with power, has a strong arm and is fast afoot. Finding himself a comfortable position to play should enhance his road to stardom. His baseball idol is Mickey Mantle, which seems natural enough since he comes from the same state as Mickey, Oklahoma, and was signed by the same scout, Tom Greenwade, and now occupies Mickey's old Stadium locker."
-1970 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide
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