This is the tragic story of New York Yankee’s catcher Thurman Munson who died in a plane crash in August of 1979.
Thurman Munson is the only baseball player in the history of the game to win the title of College All-American, MLB Rookie of the Year, receive the MVP award, Gold Glove awards, be a seven-time All-Star, and win World Championships. Munson was one of the most popular players on Yankee teams for eleven years. He was the heart and soul catcher for the Yankees between 1969 and his untimely death in 1979.
Munson was born in Akron, Ohio and was the youngest of four siblings. At the age of eight, his family moved to Canton. He learned to play ball with the help of his older brother Duane. He always played ball with older kids that were three or four years older than he. He was a talented athlete, and that was exhibited in high school where he was captain of the baseball, basketball, and football team. He was all-city and all-state in all three sports. In baseball, Thruman played mostly shortstop but in his senior year switched to catcher. He received a baseball scholarship and attended Kent State University.
In the summer of 1967, I was lucky enough to see Thurman play in the Cape Cod League. I remember him because he was the star of the Chatham A’s, batting .420. Thirty-three years later he would be named to the Cape Cod Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1968, Munson was the fourth round pick of the New York Yankees in the 1968 MLB draft. He only played one year in the minors, hitting a .301 average with six home runs and 37 runs batted in. He made his major league debut in 1969 and had two runs scored in his first game. As a catcher in 1970, he earned the American League Rookie of the Year Award.
In 1971 Munson earned his first All-Star nomination, in the same year that he would have only one error, This same year, Munson would solidify his reputation as an all guts player and a fighter. This is the same year that he was knocked unconscious at the plate for five minutes, he was taken to the hospital but was back in the dugout before the game was over. This was also the year his feud with Boston’s Carlton Fisk started. Gene the “stick” Michael had a failed bunt attempt as Munson tried to score from third, he piled into Fisk and was called out, but remained tangled with Fisk, causing a ten-minute bench-clearing brawl, in which both catchers were thrown out of the game. In the years between 72 and 74, Thurman got more All-Star nods, Gold Gloves, and a Slugger of the Year Award.
In 1975 Munson batted a career-high .318. In 1976 he was made Yankee Captain, the first Yankee Captain since Lou Gehrig retired. He scored 3 runs in the ALCS and batted .529 in the World Series that was lost to the Reds. Munson batted .308 with 100 RBIs in 1977, giving him three consecutive seasons batting .300 or better with 100 or more RBI each year. He was the first catcher to accomplish the feat in three consecutive years since Yankee Hall of Famer Bill Dickey’s four straight seasons from 1936-1939.
In the 1978 ALCS against the Royals Munson hit the longest home run of his career (475′). Munson’s World Series championships in 1977 and 1978 made him only the second catcher in baseball history, at the time, to win a Rookie of the Year Award, an MVP Award, a Gold Glove Award, and a World Series title during his career.
In 1979 the battling Munson was beginning to show the wear and tear of being a catcher who played so hard, He was thinking of going to the Indians or retiring after the season. He was an accomplished pilot and owned his own Citation. He would often go home to be with family on days off. On August 9, 1979, on one of those trips home, he was killed practicing touch and go’s at his home airport in Canton. The entire shocked Yankee team including George Steinbrenner, Manager Billy Martin and best friend Bobby Mercer would attend his funeral. The baseball commissioner advised George not to let the team go, as if they weren’t back in time for that night’s game they would have to forfeit. George said if we forfeit we forfeit, we are going. Munson’s funeral was delayed by 30 minutes while thousands waited in the streets for the Yankees to arrive in their chartered plane.
Best friend Bobby Mercer gave an emotional eulogy to his friend at the funeral. It was obvious to all that upon leaving the funeral both Murcer and Martin were visibly shaken. The Yankees did get back to the stadium in time for their game.
Billy Martin didn’t want Bobby to play as he was still shaken by the day’s events. Bobby insisted on playing. Murcer practically won the game single-handedly, bringing the Yankees back from a 4–0 deficit with a 3-run homer in the 7th, then hitting a walk-off 2-run single down the left-field line in the bottom of the 9th, causing Howard Cosell to exclaim what a heroic performance Murcer had put on. Murcer never used the bat from the game again and gave it to Munson’s widow, Diana Munson who takes the place of Thurman during every Old Timer’s Day celebration.
Before the Baltimore Orioles game at Yankee Stadium on the day after Munson’s death the New York Yankees and its fans, over 51,000 strong celebrated his life in a standing ovation that lasted nearly fourteen minutes. New York Cardinal Cooke said a prayer and asked for a moment of silence. Robert Merrill Yankee number 1 1/2 sang America the Beautiful. All the field players were in their place except for the catcher’s position which remained empty during the ceremony. George Steinbrenner immediately retired his number 15 with a plaque in Monument Park. Munson’s locker remained in place until the old Yankee Stadium was torn down. It was moved wholly to the new Stadium where it sits today in the Yankee Museum.
Some say the fan applauded for eight minutes, it was more like 14 minutes. EmpireSportsMedia.com’s Columnist William Parlee is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. Follow me on Twitter @parleewilliam.