DeDe fulfills a lifelong dream!

Singing the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium on Old-Timers' Day, June 26, is special to DeDe Murcer Moffett.

From the time Babe Ruth homered April 18, 1923, in a win over the Boston Red Sox, memories began to mount at Yankee Stadium.

That is, with some painful exceptions, including Bobby Murcer, who was a New York Yankees broadcaster after his 17-year major league playing career.  The Oklahoma City native had died less than a month earlier at age 62 after battling brain cancer.

On that August day, rains were brushed from the Bronx sky just as tears were from DeDe Murcer Moffett's hazel-gold eyes. Wearing a T-shirt proclaiming “Bobby Murcer Fan For Life,” she was among the thousands.  This year, she returns for the Old-Timers' Game Sunday, June 26 — not as a fan, but to sing the national anthem in memory of her uncle. 

The “Star-Spangled Banner” never lacks for emotion, but when DeDe takes the field at the new Yankee Stadium, she will do so in honor of a man who used a smile even more than a bat to turn trials to triumphs.  She will step onto the field having lost her own father and Bobby's late brother, DeWayne, to cancer in May 1989, and her uncle, Randy, Bobby's youngest brother, also to cancer earlier this year.

She will step on the field having lived a life where she was active in music, left that for the corporate world, battled alcoholism and just a few years ago returned to recording music, as well as serving as an inspirational speaker.

“With all of that wrapped up into one day, for me, that is going to be the toughest and the sweetest thing getting my emotions in check, feeling the presence of Bobby, because I will,” she said. “I can't be in Yankee Stadium without feeling that he is there, because he was such a huge figure with that organization.  “It's an absolute honor and a dream come true.”

Bobby was an All-Star in five straight seasons from 1971-75. Overall, he batted .277 with 252 home runs and 1,043 runs batted in. But his genuine personality drove home much more than runs. He drove home the importance of faith and the value of family.

Just three weeks after Murcer's surgery in December 2006, a friend from Florida called the love of Bobby's life, wife Kay Murcer, and said they needed to look at a blog on the Internet. It was set up for people to leave messages to the beloved Bobby Murcer.

There were 1 million posts. People were praying for him, including those who said they had never prayed before. Bobby, turning trial to triumph, said, “Think how powerful that can be.”

DeDe had about 25 years in corporate sales for state, regional and national companies. She consistently won top honors and awards, but she also consistently battled her addiction to alcohol. In 2007, as she prepared for her marriage to Rick Moffett, she stopped drinking and she began recording again.

Among the songs was one that has been performed by many, “I Believe,” with words and music by Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl and Al Stillman. She recorded this at a time when trials were finally giving way to triumph in her life and at a time when her uncle was showing that victory could be achieved when losing seemed inevitable.

The song contains the words, “I believe above the storm the smallest prayer will still be heard ... ”

Even though the circumstances were extremely different, the niece and her uncle embraced the song. Bobby and Kay's daughter, Tori Witherspoon, told DeDe, her cousin, that Bobby and the family were listening to her music when he died.  That makes DeDe cry, and yet it makes her smile. The latter is good because Bobby didn't like to smile alone.

Take for example, the time when DeDe was only about 6 years old and her uncle found out she had a crush on one of his teammates, Joe Pepitone. The family had gone to watch Bobby play and a little while before the game, he pointed to his niece. “He calls me to come to him and Joe comes over and he introduces me to Joe Pepitone,” DeDe said. “And Joe gives me a kiss on the cheek. That was just really, really special.”  That was Bobby — she smiled, he smiled.

In April this year, the Yankees contacted DeDe, who grew up in Oklahoma and lives in Frisco, Texas, about singing the national anthem on Old-Timers' Day to honor her uncle's memory. She sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” a few years ago at an Oklahoma City RedHawks game and then in December at an Oklahoma City Thunder game.

But this is Yankee Stadium, and this is Old-Timers' Day and this is for Bobby.  “It's very special to me because it sort of brings everything together,” she said. “I grew up loving the New York Yankees because I loved Bobby.