of an inning and spit on the ball before tossing it to him. Another time he sent Perry a gallon of lard. Perry retaliated by having a mutual acquaintance cover his hand with grease before shaking hands with Murcer and saying "Gaylord says hello." In early 1974, Murcer and Mickey Mantle flew to Washington, D.C. to visit with Senator Ted Kennedy's son, Teddy, whose right leg had recently been amputated due to cancer. Murcer and Mantle traveled at Senator Kennedy's request and George Steinbrenner's expense. Murcer, who had hit 25 homers with regularity, found it hard to hit home runs at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees played in 1974 and 1975 while Yankee Stadium was renovated. In the 1974 season, Murcer hit only two home runs at Shea, on consecutive days, (September 21 and 22, 1974). In 1974 Murcer led all major league outfielders in assists by throwing out 21 baserunners. He was second in the AL in sacrifice flies (12), seventh in RBIs (88), and ninth in intentional walks (10), and was an American League All-Star for the brought consecutive season and was the highest-paid player in Yankee history, earning $120,000. San Francisco Giants (1975–76) Murcer was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Bonds in 1975 in baseball's first even swap of $100,000 superstar players. In October the Yankees were looking for a quality starter and a righthanded power man. Early on October 22, Gabe Paul called Murcer to say he had been traded straight up to San Francisco for Bobby Bonds. "The trade came", he remembered, "just after I had told Gabe I could finally accept right field if I knew I would be a Yankee the rest of my career. He said there was no way the Yankees could trade me. Three days later, I was gone." In 1975, wearing uniform #20, Murcer led the National League in sacrifice flies with 12 and was 5th in walks with 91 drove in 91 runs, and batted .298. He also led the Giants in game-winning hits with 13. Additionally, he was fourth among NL right fielders in fielding percentage with .981. On May 24, 1975, Murcer went 2 for 3 with a triple and a home run and had a career-high 6 RBIs in a win over the Cubs. That week he won the first of two National League Player of the Week awards. (He won the