WE REMEMBER THURMAN MUNSON "THE CAPTAIN" forever

T-CANE · Aug 3, 2012

8/2/79 RIP

Saddest day of my childhood.

VET COMMT, PLEASE VOTE HI IN THE HOF SOON!!

The great 3 of the 70's and were BENCH, MUNSON, FISK, 2 of the 3 are in,but Munson had numbers and intangibles better than Fisk, who usee DH/longevity to increase his numbers and hang on to get there.

PLEASE DRINK ONE FOR MUNSON TONIGHT

5teamparlay · Aug 2, 2014

35 years RIP

Unfortunately, at the far too young age of 32, Munson was killed in a plane crash on Aug. 2, 1979. He had been learning how to fly an I/SP jet -- in order to more easily get back home to Ohio to see his family on off-days -- and had an accident on an attempted landing at the Akron-Canton Regional Airport.

Donkwin47 · Aug 2, 2014

Wow. Nostalgic feel seeing a T-Cane thread.

We remember him, too.. RIP.

jcubs55 · Aug 2, 2014

The whole theme of this thread is very, very eerie... Crazy feeling seeing a T-CANE post bumped... R.I.P.

Twisted · Aug 2, 2014

Damn 5team, you doing some mid summer dusting?!?! I couldn't believe it's been 35 years already!!! I remember when he gave Reggie the Mr October name. Loved those teams.

varkeyboy · Aug 2, 2014

And most importantly, RIP TCANE.

5teamparlay · Mar 3, 2019

https://www.dispatch.com/sports/201...of-fame-ready-to-admit-yankees-thurman-munson
[h=1]Is Baseball Hall of Fame ready to admit Yankees’ Thurman Munson?[/h]<section class="date" style="margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; font-size: 1em !important; display: inline !important;">[h=2]Most Popular[/h]
[h=2]Our Picks[/h]</section>
<section style="max-width: 100%;"></section>[h=4][/h]<section style="max-width: 100%;">

By Tim Botos, Canton Repository, GateHouse Media OhioPosted at 11:11 AM
http://www.therxforum.com/safari-reader://www.dispatch.com/#facebookhttp://www.therxforum.com/safari-reader://www.dispatch.com/#twitterhttps://www.addtoany.com/share#url=... Fame ready to admit Yankees' Thurman Munson?

Thurman’s Army is pushing to get the Ohio native, who died in a plane crash during the 1979 season, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Thurman’s Army is marching, in spirit, toward the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
The group — led by Manhattan attorney Larry Schnapf — has plotted, planned and unleashed a strategy they hope gets Thurman Munson voted into the Hall later this year.
“This is like a political campaign,” explained the 65-year-old Schnapf, a former Yankee Stadium season ticket-holder, who idolized Mickey Mantle, then Munson and Don Mattingly.
Munson grew up in Canton and graduated from Lehman High. He was the New York Yankees’ starting catcher from 1970 until his death on Aug. 2, 1979. He was 32 years old when the Cessna Citation jet he was piloting crashed near Akron-Canton Airport.
Although considered one of the top catchers of his day, Munson never came close to Hall of Fame induction during 15 years on the ballot. His best showing was in 1981, his first year. He was named on 15.5 percent of ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America — well below the 75 percent required for Hall entrance.
The knock on Munson was that he didn’t play long enough to accumulate the volume of career statistics typically required for Hall admission. Baseball purists and historians had long looked for certain ‘magic’ numbers in a player’s lifetime totals to prove he’s Hall-worthy, such as .300 batting average, 500 homers or 3,000 hits.
Munson had none of those.
The offensive star threshold for catchers is admittedly less than for other positions. After all, catchers endure a physical beating behind the plate from wild pitches, foul tips and incessant pressure on their knees. But Munson’s lifetime batting average was .292. And he only had 113 homers among his 1,558 hits.
When Munson’s Hall eligibility expired after 1995, it appeared he’d go down in history as one of many who fell short.
***

But there is a second-chance option to get into the Hall.
Four separate “Era” committees are in place to review veteran candidates. It’s the same way Harold Baines was selected in December. And Thurman’s Army is encouraged because Baines had less support on his conventional ballots than Munson.
“There’s been a real change in the way players are being evaluated,” said Schnapf, whose Hall campaign was officially announced and set into motion on Feb. 5 at the AHRC New York City Foundation’s 39th annual Thurman Munson Awards Dinner.
Schnapf’s Thurman’s Army is following a written plan and timeline, which began in 2018 with the creation of the munsonhof.com website.
“I’m 100 percent blown away,” said Mike Munson, one of Thurman Munson’s three children. “All the work they’ve done; time they’ve taken; the enthusiasm they have. At the dinner, they acted like it was some great honor to meet me ... I was honored to meet them.”
Cultivating from a Munson Facebook fan site, the Army is recruiting volunteers to sign a petition and to lobby the 11 writers who make up the Hall historical review committee.
That committee meets this summer to nominate 10 former players, whose careers were largely from 1970 to 1987. Those 10 then get forwarded to the 16 members of the Modern Baseball Committee in December, where 12 votes (75 percent) are required for induction.
Mike Munson, who operates Tugboat’s Pub (named for one of his dad’s many nicknames) at Canton’s Meadowlake Golf Course, said he reads the Thurman Munson Fan Club Facebook page almost every day. Sometimes, though, he has to pull away because he becomes too emotional. He was only 4 years old when his dad died.
***

Diana Munson said the family is thrilled and honored by the push to get her late husband into the Hall. But she knows the family is biased by their love for the man who regularly flew home to Canton during the season to spend more time with them.
“I believe he should be in, but I’m speaking with my heart so I probably don’t count,” she said.
She’s proud of Thurman’s career; proud of how he visited children in the hospital outside of the media’s eyes; proud of the annual New York City dinner in her husband’s name, which so far has raised $17 million for children and adults with developmental disabilities; proud of the husband she knew, the Yankees’ captain who cried when he opened the World Series trophy sent to him by team owner George Steinbrenner.
“Thurman always did things from his heart,” she said.
The best Yankees teams were from 1976 to 1978, a period referred to as the Bronx Zoo, due to turmoil on and off the field. The Yankees were swept by the Reds in the 1976 World Series, despite Munson’s .529 average. However, they returned to beat the Dodgers in the 1977 World Series and again in 1978.
Diana Munson said she remains close to some wives and players from those great teams her husband captained.
“Ron Guidry (a Yankees pitcher) was like Thurman’s little brother,” she said. “Whenever we get together ... he’s always watching over me, making sure I’m OK ... he must be saying to Thurman, ‘I got it.’ I always say ‘Ron, I’m a big girl now.’ But that’s just Ron. He and (his wife), Bonnie, are the nicest people you’ll ever meet.”
***

Lou Piniella, who missed by one vote in joining Baines for Hall enshrinement this summer, was a Yankee teammate. He sometimes flew with Munson when he came home to visit his family.
“He had this gruff exterior, but he was a teddy bear,” said Piniella, who went on to manage in the major leagues for more than 20 years after his playing days.
Piniella said he’d love to see Munson in the Hall.
“I’m thoroughly convinced that if he’d (not died young), he’d be Hall of Fame material for sure,” he said. “He was a leader, a clutch hitter and he called an impeccable game ... pitchers loved him.”
Those Yankees teams of the late-1970s were loaded with the likes of Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles and Chris Chambliss. If the Yankees needed a clutch base hit to win a game, Piniella said, there two players on the team he wanted to see at the plate.
“I wanted either myself or Thurman up,” Piniella said.
***

As a son, Mike Munson always believed his dad belonged in the Hall. He also knew his dad hadn’t compiled the conventional career numbers normally required. But these days, advanced sabermetrics, such as WAR (Wins Above Replacement), have been developed as a way to measure the complete value of a ballplayer.
And Thurman Munson fares well.
His 10-year WAR rating from 1970 to 1979, basically his entire career, was 45.6. That’s seventh all-time among catchers. The first six — Gary Carter, Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez, Yogi Berra and Mickey Cochrane — all are among the 329 Cooperstown enshrinees.
“Old-timers would say my dad was great leader, a clutch hitter,” Mike Munson said. “But you can’t measure that. I’d always thought analytics were a problem for him getting in ... until now.”
Thurman’s Army also points to a “Cooperstown Justice” segment on Munson last summer on the Major League Baseball TV network. Studio host Brian Kenny used modern metrics to build a case, while comparing Munson to great catchers of the past.
Kenny closed with this: “Thurman Munson should get renewed consideration for the Hall of Fame.”
***
Marty Appel may have known Thurman Munson as well as anyone. He worked in the Yankees public relations department from 1968 to 1977. Appel then went into sports management and wrote 16 books on baseball, including two on Munson.
“Nothing would make me happier, if he were to get in,” Appel said.
But don’t expect Appel to campaign for it.
“I know all these groups kind of look for me to do that ... ” Appel said before explaining that he has equal respect for Munson and the Hall of Fame voters and process.
Appel said baseball writers who watched and knew Munson best had 15 years to induct him into the Hall — and didn’t.
***
Diana Munson said her husband had spoken some about a possible future in Cooperstown.
“He was always planning,” she said. “Thurman also talked about managing too. He and Mr. Steinbrenner had talked about him managing one day ... he was being groomed.”
Allan Blutstein, an attorney who specializes in public records, was an 11-year-old kid in New York when Munson died.
“It was such a devastating blow; baseball was my favorite sport and he was my favorite player,” Blutstein recalled.
So, after years of blocking out that horrible memory, and now middle-aged, Blutstein embarked on a personal mission last year. He visited Munson’s grave at Sunset Hills Burial Park in Jackson Township and placed a ball cap on top of the stone. He decided that he wanted to learn everything about how and why Munson died. And he did it the way he knows best — Blutstein reviewed public records.
He pored over a file from the Akron-Canton Airport. He tracked down civil court records at the National Archives; he spent several days reading in the federal courthouse in Akron. In the end, he looked at more than 15,000 pages related to Munson’s crash and death.
“My aim was to not only get answers for myself, but to put it online, so others could get answers, too,” Blutstein explained of his decision to post the records on a medium.com website.
Blutstein said he’s rooting for Munson to get into the Hall.
But if it doesn’t happen, that’s OK too.
“He captured my heart; that’s enough,” Blutstein said.

</section>

StevieRay · Mar 3, 2019

I had the Thurman Munsons playing golf one day

Haute-Savoie · Mar 5, 2019

What an amazing piece of MLB history. I never heard of Thurman Munson until I watched that documentary posted here. What an amazing sad/tragic story. Thurmans story is so captivating and the things he accomplished was incredible. I am shocked that MLB Hall Of Fame wouldn't let a player like Thurman in. The Hall Of Fame should be much more than just stats. It should be wide open an easy stroll for players that are such a huge part of MLB history. Stats alone do not make a unforgettable beautiful story.

Mosi · Mar 6, 2019

I was 11 when Thurman died. It was the first time the death of a sports star hit me hard. I have some recollection of the 1975 and 1976 Series, but it was in 1977 that I was enthralled with baseball. Steinbrenner had returned the Yanks to prominence, losing in '76 to the Big Red Machine but then beating the Dodgers back-to-back in '77 and '78. Thurman was a big part of those World Series victories. It was a great loss to MLB.

Thurman Munson Remembered
You can look at the stats and the awards (we will, below). But there are two things people most remember about Munson.

His phenomenal play in the postseason. He helped the Yankees win three American League pennants and two World Series between 1976 and 1978. It was part of a resurgence for the Yankees under new owner George Steinbrenner, who bought the team in 1973
His tragic death, at age 32, while practice landing his Cessna Citation plane at the Akron-Canton Airport on Aug. 2, 1979

Fans who are old enough remember Munson as one of the greatest catchers the game ever produced. Although he played at a time when Johnny Bench also played and was sometimes overshadowed, he still left an indelible impression.
Why isn’t he in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown? That’s more complicated.

Munson’s Accomplishments
When Steinbrenner bought the Yankees, they hadn’t been to the World Series since 1964. That’s a long drought for a team usedtowinning championships. Munson played a key role in the team’s revival.
The other players respected him so much that he wasnamedcaptain of the team, the first person named to that position since the great Lou Gehrig. Munson, who was from Ohio, was a scrappy player who played every game as if the season was on the line. It won his teammates’ respect.
Munson’s stats are impressive. He had a lifetime .292 batting average. In his Rookie of the Year season in 1970, he hit .302. He won Gold Gloves in 1973, 1974 and 1975. He had 113 career home run and 701 RBI.
He also was named Most Valuable Player in 1976, the year he became Yankees captain, and as an All-Star in seven seasons. He hit over .300 in three consecutive seasons, 1975-1977.
But the playoffs are where he played his best. In 16 starts in the World Series, he hit .373. He hit .357 in the playoffs for his career.
And he came through with heroics in big moments, too. He broke a 1-1 tie in the 1978 American League Championship series with the Kansas City Royals by hitting ahomerun in the bottom of the eighth inning. He threw out four of six baserunners against the fleet-footed Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1977 World Series.

Why Isn’t Thurman Munson in the Hall of Fame?
With his amazing statistics, many wonder why Munson has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Ranker currently has Thurman Munson listed as 15th on the list of “the best baseball players not in the Hall of Fame.” The list contains those who are no longer active players and have had the chance to be listed on the Hall of Fame ballot at least once.
And that’s just one of many such lists.
Many theories abound. The Sporting News speculated that since he fell so far short of getting into Cooperstown the first time he was on the ballot – just two years after his death – in subsequent years fewer baseball writers have voted for him.
They also speculate the shortness of his career – 11 seasons – hurt him.
But the argument for Munson is strong. A case could be made that without him, the Yankees would have gone from 1964 to 1996 without a championship. His performance in the playoffs ranks among the best of all time – not just for a catcher, but for all players.
As it stands, Thurman Munson is among one of the most puzzling oversights of the Hall of Fame.

Article Courtesy of Imagine Sports Editorial Team/ imaginesports.com

Mosi · Mar 6, 2019

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
1969	22	NYY	AL	26	97	86	6	22	1	2	1	9	0	1	10	10	.256	.330	.349	.679	94	30	5	0	0	1	1	2
1970	23	NYY	AL	132	526	453	59	137	25	4	6	53	5	7	57	56	.302	.386	.415	.801	126	188	13	7	5	4	6	*2	MVP-19,RoY-1
1971	24	NYY	AL	125	517	451	71	113	15	4	10	42	6	5	52	65	.251	.335	.368	.703	105	166	10	7	4	3	1	*2/9	AS
1972	25	NYY	AL	140	568	511	54	143	16	3	7	46	6	7	47	58	.280	.343	.364	.707	114	186	13	3	4	2	5	*2
1973	26	NYY	AL	147	576	519	80	156	29	4	20	74	4	6	48	64	.301	.362	.487	.849	142	253	12	4	1	4	4	*2/D	AS,MVP-12,GG
1974	27	NYY	AL	144	571	517	64	135	19	2	13	60	2	0	44	66	.261	.316	.381	.697	101	197	14	1	1	8	12	*2/D	AS,MVP-26,GG
1975	28	NYY	AL	157	661	597	83	190	24	3	12	102	3	2	45	52	.318	.366	.429	.795	126	256	23	6	3	10	8	*2D/3579	AS,MVP-7,GG
1976	29	NYY	AL	152	665	616	79	186	27	1	17	105	14	11	29	38	.302	.337	.432	.769	126	266	17	9	1	10	6	*2D/97	AS,MVP-1
1977	30	NYY	AL	149	638	595	85	183	28	5	18	100	5	6	39	55	.308	.351	.462	.813	121	275	18	2	0	2	8	*2D	AS,MVP-7
1978	31	NYY	AL	154	667	617	73	183	27	1	6	71	2	3	35	70	.297	.332	.373	.705	101	230	20	3	1	10	6	*2D9	AS,MVP-22
1979	32	NYY	AL	97	419	382	42	110	18	3	3	39	1	2	32	37	.288	.340	.374	.714	95	143	15	0	1	4	2	2/D3
11 Yrs	1423	5905	5344	696	1558	229	32	113	701	48	50	438	571	.292	.346	.410	.756	116	2190	160	42	21	58	59
162 Game Avg.	162	672	608	79	177	26	4	13	80	5	6	50	65	.292	.346	.410	.756	116	249	18	5	2	7	7

Mosi · Mar 6, 2019

Thurman was ROY in '70. League MVP in '76, three-time Golden Glover, seven-time All-Star, and respected enough to become Yankee Team Captain. This man is a Hall of Fame player who had his career cut short by an unfortunate plane crash. Give his family the honor.

I am not even a Yankee fan, simple someone who respects good players and good play. Thurman Munson was a stud on the diamond.

WE REMEMBER THURMAN MUNSON "THE CAPTAIN" forever

Search

T-CANE

New member

5teamparlay

Member

Donkwin47

Even DONKS win sometimes... Right?

jcubs55

Go Cubs Go

Twisted

Dain Bramaged

varkeyboy

Member

5teamparlay

Member

StevieRay

Active member

Haute-Savoie

This Shit's Chess. It Aint' Checkers!...

Mosi

Member

Mosi

Member

Mosi

Member

Forum statistics

Share this page