Monday Musings

It may have been a week late for some but Mother Nature shined down on the Jersey Shore this weekend with a couple of near perfect days which brought thousands of visitors and locals to area beaches. It could not have been any nicer near the ocean with a cool breeze blowing although swimming conditions were not ideal. Tropical Storm Bertha resulted in rough seas and some strong rips and lifeguards had to keep swimmers close to the shore. It was a small price to pay for those of us who are weekend warriors and live for Saturdays and Sundays at the beach.

Bobby Murcer never did live up the expectations some had for him when he
first came up to the Yankees in 1965 but then again when you’re dubbed “the next Mickey Mantle” how can you succeed? He spent most of his 17 major league seasons in New York, was a five-time All-Star and finished with a .277 career batting average and was a good if not great player. Murcer died over the weekend following a long battle with brain cancer at the age of 62 and for a generation of Yankee fans it’s a difficult loss. He was the face of the franchise after Mantle and very popular with fans at a time when the team was not very good. Murcer spent time with the Giants and Cubs before returning to the Yanks for his final 4 ½ seasons and after retiring in 1983 moved into the Yankees broadcast booth. As one person said on the radio this weekend….he didn’t have to die for people to say nice things about him…they did that all his life.

Baseball has reached the unofficial midway point of the season with the All-Star game set for tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium. The Yanks are six games behind AL East-leading Boston at the break with the surging Mets just a half-game back of NL East-leading Philadelphia. The Mets have won 9 in-a-row for the first time since 2000 when they captured the National League Championship and last played in the World Series.