We lost one of the good guys the other day. After a 19-month battle with brain cancer, Bobby Murcer left us at 62.

A fellow Oklahoman, I knew Bobby a long time. He was a three-sport prep star at Oklahoma City Southeast high, an all-state quarterback, the leading basketball scorer in the city, and an all-stater in baseball. He was going to OU before the Yankees got him to agree to a $20,000 bonus contract. Bobby was signed by Tom Greenwade, the scout who landed Murcer’s idol, Mickey Mantle, who was from Commerce, Oklahoma. They later played together briefly in the Yankee outfield, one of Bobby’s greatest thrills. Murcer had a good 17-year major league career, 12 of those with the Yanks, and made five All-Star teams.

In 1974, Bobby became the highest paid Yankee in history when he signed for $120,000 that season. Later, he would become the highest paid Giant and the highest paid Cub player ever. I remember when he played at chilly Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Bobby would warm his bats before he took them out to come to the plate. He gave the Dodgers fits. In 63 career games against them, he hit .347 and slugged 11 home runs. However, in game 3 of the 1981 World Series, third baseman Ron Cey of the Dodgers made a spectacular diving catch of Murcer’s sacrifice bunt attempt in the eighth inning to kill a Yankee rally in a close game. New York was attempting to go up 3-0 in the Series. Instead, the Dodgers won the next four.

After he retired as a player, Murcer became a member of the Yankees broadcast team. I don’t make a habit of reading a great many obituaries, but looking at the one Ben Walker of The Associated Press wrote on Bobby got my attention. I cannot recall ever reading so many people praising an individual as they did Bobby Murcer.

He was universally respected and loved. That is quite a legacy.