Yankees Remember the Life of Murcer, With a Nod to Munson
Bill Schenley
FROM: The New York Times ~
By Tyler Kepner
ARLINGTON, Tex.
There was a reason the family of Bobby Murcer chose
Wednesday to have his memorial service in Oklahoma
City. Thurman Munson was buried on that date 29
years earlier, and Kay Murcer, Bobby’s widow, wanted
Munson to be part of it.
Munson’s wife, Diana, was one of hundreds of friends
and family members who filled Memorial Road Church
of Christ to honor the life of Murcer, who died of brain
cancer on July 12. Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte
represented the Yankees’ players, and a large group of
club executives, including Hal Steinbrenner and his sister
Jennifer Swindal, flew in for the ceremony.
“Awesome, but hard,” Manager Joe Girardi said.
“A lot of tears. But to listen to the tributes from all the
people was inspiring. It was sad because you miss
Bobby so much, but it was a great event.”
Girardi presented Kay Murcer with the No. 1 jersey the
Yankees hung in the dugout in his honor on Old-Timers’
Day. Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, an astronaut who took
a Murcer jersey into space last year, gave a stirring
speech.
“It was incredible,” Pettitte said. “It was a wonderful
ceremony for him. I’m glad I went. I just felt like
I needed to go, you know?”
People from all phases of Murcer’s life were there,
including his former Yankees teammates Reggie Jackson
and Gene Michael, and representatives of the YES
Network, including Michael Kay, who was a speakers.
The Oklahoma football coach, Bob Stoops, was there,
as was one of Stoops’s predecessors, Barry Switzer.
Yogi Berra and his wife, Carmen, gave a written tribute
in the program for the ceremony: “We loved you in
pinstripes, we loved you in the booth, we’ll love you
forever, and that is the truth.”
---
Hundreds Remember Yankees Broadcaster Bobby Murcer
FROM: MLB.com ~
By Rochelle Himes, Associated Press Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY
His rocking chair sat empty and motionless with his old
New York Yankees jersey draped over it, but the spirit
of beloved broadcaster Bobby Murcer lived on
Wednesday with his family, friends and colleagues.
Hundreds filled an Oklahoma City-area church for a
stirring and often humorous tribute to Murcer, a
five-time All-Star outfielder who died from brain cancer
on July 12.
He was remembered in words by his son, an astronaut
and a 13-year-old cancer survivor, and in video
messages from Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Rich
“Goose” Gossage and comedians Billy Crystal and
Ray Romano.
Current Yankees Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte made
the 225-mile trip from Arlington, Texas, where they
were scheduled to play the Rangers later Wednesday.
Jeter called him “the perfect Yankee.”
“The way he treated people. That’s the biggest thing
about Bobby, especially if you’re a young player
coming up in New York. He had always the most
positive things to say, whether you were good or bad.
He always went out of his way to speak with you.”
Murcer’s broadcast partner, Michael Kay, said Murcer
was an idol to him and countless others of his
generation.
“The Yankees were not very good when I fell in love
with the game,” Kay said. “But as a kid growing up in
the Bronx, there was just something about Bobby, and
I was not alone. There are people my age that all looked
at Bobby Ray Murcer. … In the years of bad baseball,
we had Bobby Murcer.”
Col. Doug Wheelock, a space shuttle Astronaut,
recalled that as a child he snuggled under his sheets in
bed with a transistor radio and a flashlight to catch
broadcasts of Yankees games and take down Murcer’s
stats.
“I didn’t meet Bobby until about a year ago, but I felt
like I knew the man,” Wheelock said.
When he heard that Murcer and his wife, Kay, would be
in Houston for treatment at the University of Texas M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center, he arranged to meet his hero.
“Actually, my knees were shaking that day,” he said as
the audience laughed. “I can strap myself to a rocket
but … “
Murcer gave Wheelock a baseball jersey that the astronaut
took with him on a trip aboard Discovery to the
International Space Station, and on an expedition to
Mount Everest.
“It was just the way he lived his life and he let us watch,”
Wheelock said.
Murcer spent most of his 17-year career with his beloved
Yankees, starting in 1965 at the age of 19. He was touted
by many in New York as the next Mickey Mantle—
another Oklahoma baseball great—and played shortstop.
Murcer moved from shortstop to third base, but ended
up in center field, Mantle’s old spot. After the 1974
season he was traded to San Francisco and was with the
Chicago Cubs when the Yankees won the World Series
in 1977 and 1978.
He came back to the Yankees during the 1979 season,
but retired four years later and moved into the broadcast
booth, where he won three Emmys.
The only person to play with Mantle and Don Mattingly,
Murcer hit .277 with 252 home runs and 1,043 RBIs in
his career. He made the All-Star team in both leagues
and won a Gold Glove.
Murcer never cut his ties with the Yankees and served
as a bridge between the storied team’s legends like
Mantle to the players of today, like Jeter and Pettitte.
“I just can’t say enough,” Pettitte said. “I mean he was
just a great man, just a great person to be around. He
lived a wonderful life.”
“You know he knew his days were probably numbered
and he showed the strength and courage and it’s almost
like he showed you how a man’s supposed to die also.”
---
Mourners Remember Sunny Side of Murcer
FROM: The The Edmond (OK) Sun ~
By Patty Miller
EDMOND
People from all walks of life met together Wednesday
at Memorial Road Church of Christ to honor former
Yankee baseball player Bobby Murcer.
Former classmates, fans, friends and fellow athletes
turned out to celebrate the life of a man, a hero everyone
looked up to and respected.
As photos of Murcer with family, friends and fellow
ball players slipped silently across a screen at the front
of the church, his favorite rocking chair sat in place
draped by his Yankee jersey and ball cap. His gold
glove, two baseballs brought by the family and an
Emmy for his broadcasting — one of three he won
— stood silently attesting to the man that Kent Allen,
in his welcome at the Celebration of the Life, said stood
above most others because of his faith, love and caring
attitude.
Andrew Lashley of Memorial Road Church of Christ
said more than 1,200 people turned out on a day that
could have been specially ordered by Murcer himself.
Murcer, 62, was born May 20, 1946, and died July 12
after a 19-month battle with brain cancer.
As his former manager Marty Appel said in a tribute to
Murcer, “It was always partly sunny in Bobby Murcer’s
world, never partly cloudy.”
He went on to say Murcer was simply the summer side
of life . . . when all is right. He said the longtime Edmond
resident was the cool breeze on a spectacular summer
afternoon.
“We have not lost the summer side of life,” Appel said.
“He instilled so much in each of us that if we all carry a
little of Bobby Murcer within our hearts and our souls
each and every day, we will always have the summer
side of life on our side.”
Appel said he knew Murcer as a client and friend and
paid tribute to him by saying: “His friendship was
unconditional loyalty, undeniable kindness, limitless;
smile, endless; undying desire to please as many as he
could, infinite; and his caring for complete strangers
undeniable and unequaled.
“I promise with all my heart; I will carry you wherever
I go and talk about you to whomever will listen, because
everyone loves the summer side of life and everyone
loves Bobby Murcer.”
Friends came from all across the world to pay tribute
to their friend.
Diana Munson came from Ohio to honor the man who,
29 years ago to the day had delivered the eulogy for her
husband and Murcer’s former teammate, Thurman
Munson, who had died at the age of 32.
Following Munson’s funeral Murcer went back to help
the Yankees beat the Orioles 5-4 with Murcer hitting
four home runs.
Aaron Gaberman, a 13-year-old young man from
Connecticut whom Bobby and his wife Kay became
friends with at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in
Houston, said he and Bobby had many things in
common.
They had a passion for baseball during the season and
golf in the off season, liked good restaurants, shared
a belief in Jesus and they both had brain cancer.
“Bobby never gave up hope,” Aaron said. “Bobby
Ray dreamed big. He taught me nothing is impossible
if you believe. I am playing for my partner, Bobby,
now.”
Aaron said he used to ask himself WWJD — What
would Jesus do? Now he asks WWBJD — What
would Bobby and Jesus do?
“I am carrying the torch of spirit and goodness for
Bobby,” Aaron said, “my guardian angel in pinstripes.”
Murcer’s friend and fellow broadcaster Michael Kay
shared stories of Bobby as he ordered food in
restaurants.
“Everyone has a jerk moment,” Kay said. “Bobby
Murcer never had a jerk moment.
“Bobby is my hero. He was the most genuine, famous,
real person, and he may very well have been the
greatest ambassador for what the Yankees stood for.
He was a perennial All-Star Hall of Famer, and I am
glad he was my friend.”
Col. Doug Wheelock came by way of Russia to the
memorial service.
“When I was 9 years old, Bobby had his first season,”
Wheelock said. “He was my idol. He was a real person,
larger than life.”
Wheelock said Murcer had changed his life in so
many ways even though he never met him until recently.
“I wanted to be Bobby Murcer,” he said. “That didn’t
work out so I ended up an astronaut.
“He never told me how to live my life. He lived his,
and he let us watch.”
When the Discovery lifted off toward space
Oct. 23, 2007, and returned Nov. 7, 2007, it carried in
it Wheelock and a jersey of Murcer’s. The jersey was
returned to Kay Murcer during the service and signed
baseball cards taken into space were given to their
children, Tori Witherspoon and Todd Murcer.
Today marks the anniversary of Bobby Murcer Day
at Yankee Stadium, first celebrated Aug. 7, 1983.
Today is Bobby Murcer Day for Oklahoma as well
as Oklahoma City.
July 12 just may have been Bobby Murcer Day in
heaven, Allen said.
His son Todd led the closing remarks with, “As long
as I was with him life was good.
“I miss you dearly and will love you all the time and
forever. You are my all-time hero.”