Bobby Murcer is back home in Oklahoma after successful brain surgery to remove a tumor. The former Cubs, Giants and Yankees player has won three Emmy Awards for his work in the Yankees broadcast booth. We wish him a speedy recovery.
In 1977, Murcer found himself in the center of a very strange controversy. Then a member of the Cubs, he promised to hit a home run for Scott Crutt, a boy dying of cancer. That night, Murcer hit two of them. Pretty amazing, especially when you consider Murcer only hit nine homers the whole next season. But that’s not why I'm telling this story almost thirty years later.
Broadcasting the game nationally on ABC, Keith Jackson told the country how Murcer had fulfilled the dying boy’s last wish. Eyes watered, spines tingled. There was only one problem – nobody had ever told the boy he was dying.
His parents were horrified. Three weeks later, Crutt passed away.
I've heard conflicting reports about the rest of the story. There may have been a lawsuit against ABC, or possibly (but not likely) against Murcer himself. If anyone remembers, fill us in.
NOTE: This anecdote originally ran as part of a longer entry titled The Fan Club: Spectacular Stories of Storied Spectators.
