Thurman Munson

Thurman Lee Munson was born on June 7, 1947, in Akron, Ohio, to Darrell Vernon Munson and Ruth Myrna Smylie, and he was the youngest of four children. His father was a World War II veteran who became a truck driver while his mother was a homemaker. When he turned eight, the Munson family moved to nearby Canton. He was taught how to play baseball by his older brother Duane, and usually played baseball with kids Duane's age, who were four years older. His brother left to join the United States Air Force while Thurman was a freshman in high school. He played halfback in football, guard in basketball, and mostly shortstop in baseball. Munson switched to catcher in his senior year in order to handle the pitching prowess of his teammate, Jerome Pruett (a fifth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1965 who never reached the majors). ==College career==

Munson attracted scholarship offers from various colleges, and opted to attend nearby Kent State University on scholarship, where he was a teammate of pitcher and broadcaster Steve Stone. In the summer of 1967, Munson joined the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he led the Chatham A's to their first league title with a prodigious .420 batting average. In recognition of this achievement and his subsequent professional achievements, the Thurman Munson Batting Award is given each season to the league's In 2000, Munson was named a member of the inaugural class of the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame. ==Professional career==

Draft and minor leagues Munson was selected by the Yankees with the fourth overall pick in the 1968 Major League Baseball draft. In his only full minor league season, he batted .301 with six home runs and 37 runs batted in (RBIs) for the Binghamton Triplets in their final season (), and made his first appearance in Yankee Stadium in August 1968, when the Triplets came to play an exhibition game against the Yankees. He was batting .363 for the Syracuse Chiefs in when he earned a promotion to the New York Yankees. New York Yankees (1969–1979) Munson made his major league debut on August 8, 1969, in the second game of a doubleheader against the Oakland Athletics. Munson went two for three with a walk, one RBI and two runs scored. Two days later, his first major league home run was the second of three consecutive home runs hit by the Yankees off Lew Krausse Jr. in a 5-1 Yankee victory over the A's. For the season, Munson batted .256 with one home run and nine RBIs. He made 97 plate appearances, but drew ten walks and had one sacrifice fly, which gave him 86 official at bats, and allowed him to go into the season still technically a rookie. The Yankees used the pair of Jake Gibbs and Frank Fernández at catcher for most of 1969. During the off season, the Yankees dealt Fernández to the A's. Munson responded by batting .302 with seven home runs and 57 RBIs, and making 80 assists en route to receiving the 1970 American League Rookie of the Year award. 1971–1974 Munson received his first of seven All-Star nods in , catching the last two innings without an at-bat. An outstanding fielder, Munson committed only one error all season. It occurred on June 18 against the Baltimore Orioles when opposing catcher Andy Etchebarren knocked Munson unconscious on a play at the plate, dislodging the ball. He also only allowed nine passed balls all season and caught 36 of a potential 59 base stealers for a 61% caught stealing percentage. Munson was known for his longstanding feud with Boston Red Sox counterpart Carlton Fisk. He would always be irritated at comments praising Boston's catcher. "The Fisk-Munson rivalry was at the core of the Yankees-Red Sox tension of that era," wrote sportswriter Moss Klein. 1975–1976 On June 24, 1975, during a game against the Baltimore Orioles, Munson had an altercation with Mike Torrez. Torrez hit Munson with a pitch in the first inning, gave up a single to him in the fourth, and threw a pitch up by his head in the sixth. When Munson came to bat in the eighth, umpire Nick Bremigan warned Torrez not to throw any more brushback pitches; this time, Torrez blew kisses to Munson. The benches cleared, but no punches were thrown; however, after Munson grounded out to end the at-bat, he charged the pitcher's mound. Munson batted a career high .318 in , which was third in the league behind Rod Carew and Fred Lynn. For the start of the season, Munson was named the first Yankees team captain since Lou Gehrig retired in . He responded by batting .302 with 17 home runs and 105 RBIs to receive the American League MVP Award and lead the Yankees to their first World Series appearance since . He batted .435 with three RBIs and three runs scored in the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals, and batted .529 with two RBIs and two runs scored in the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Already down three games to none, Munson went four for four in the final game of the Series at Yankee Stadium, but New York was swept by the "Big Red Machine." Combined with the hits he got in his final two at bats in game three, his six consecutive hits tied a World Series record set by Goose Goslin of the Washington Senators in . Reds catcher Johnny Bench was named the World Series MVP in 1976. A fairly obvious comparison of opposing backstops was made to Reds manager Sparky Anderson during the post-World Series press conference, to which Anderson responded, "Munson is an outstanding ballplayer and he would hit .300 in the National League, but you don't ever compare anybody to Johnny Bench. Don't never embarrass nobody by comparing them to Johnny Bench." Visibly upset by these comments, which he heard as he entered the room, Munson "ripped into Anderson," according to sportswriter Moss Klein. Munson was also considering retiring at the end of the season. At the end of July, the Yankees were still in fourth place at , fourteen games behind ==Death==

(with Billy Martin and Catfish Hunter) was one of two catchers to play in the game after Thurman Munson's funeral. His black memorial armband is visible. In August 1979, Munson had been flying airplanes for over a year and purchased a Cessna Citation I/SP jet with a Yankee blue interior so he could fly home to his family in Canton on off-days. It was his fourth airplane in less than a year and a half. His flight instructor Dave Hall spoke well of his ability: "From the onset to completion of training Mr. Munson displayed well above average skills and judgment as a pilot." On the afternoon of August 2, 1979, Munson was practicing takeoffs and landings at the Akron–Canton Regional Airport with Hall and friend Jerry Anderson, with whom he had formed a real estate partnership. Shortly after 3:40p.m. EDT, Munson had received clearance for takeoff and three touch-and-go landings on Runway 23, which were completed. on Greensburg Road, short of runway 19. Hall and Anderson both survived the accident. Hall received burns on his arms and hands, and Anderson received burns on his face, arm and neck. Munson, however, was in a more precarious position. Unable to move due to what was originally thought to be the wrecked fuselage of the plane pinning him against his seat, Munson was trapped and Hall and Anderson were unable to free him in the only attempt they were able to make before flames engulfed the cockpit. Munson died of asphyxiation due to the inhalation of superheated air and toxic substances. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the crash stated that the probable cause was "the pilot's failure to recognize the need for, and to take action to maintain, sufficient airspeed to prevent a stall into the ground during an attempted landing. The pilot also failed to recognize the need for timely and sufficient power application to prevent the stall during an approach conducted inadvertently without flaps extended. Contributing to the pilot's inability to recognize the problem and to take proper action was his failure to use the appropriate checklist and his nonstandard pattern procedures which resulted in an abnormal approach profile." Munson was not wearing the available shoulder harness restraint, only a lap belt, which contributed to the severity of his injuries. Munson's widow, Diana, also filed a $42.2 million wrongful death lawsuit against the two companies. Cessna offered Munson a special deal on flying lessons if he would take them from FlightSafety International. Rather than requiring Munson to take a two-week safety class in Kansas, FlightSafety assigned a "traveling instructor" to go on the road with him, and train him between ballgames. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court. ==Legacy==

{{MLBBioRet The day after his death, before the start of the Yankees' four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles in the Bronx, the team paid tribute to their deceased captain in a pre-game ceremony in which the starters stood at their defensive positions, save for the catcher's box, which remained empty. Following a prayer by Cardinal Terence Cooke, a moment of silence and "America the Beautiful" by Robert Merrill, the fans (announced attendance 51,151) burst into an eight-minute standing ovation. That night, before a national viewing audience on ABC's Monday Night Baseball, the Yankees beat the Orioles 5–4 in New York, with Murcer driving in all five runs with a three-run home run in the seventh inning and a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth. Piniella said Munson was "the greatest competitor I've ever seen." John also praised him for his leadership, writing that while Jackson led the team when it came to hitting and talking with the press, "in the locker room we looked to Munson." The area in Connecticut between Boston and New York City, has been referred to as the "Munson–Nixon line", a play on the Mason–Dixon line, after Munson and former Red Sox player Trot Nixon. Steve Rushin, who coined the term in a 2003 Sports Illustrated article, has pinpointed the line as running north of New Haven, south of Hartford, and along the width of central Connecticut. Actor Erik Jensen portrayed Munson in the 2007 ESPN produced mini-series The Bronx Is Burning. Munson was included on the 2020 Modern Era Hall of Fame Ballot. ==Personal life==

In September 1968, Munson married Diana Dominick at St. John's Church in Canton. The couple had been childhood sweethearts; Diana was already signing her name "Mrs. Thurman Munson" back in sixth grade. ==Baseball accomplishments==

Munson had a career .357 batting average in the postseason with three home runs, 22 RBIs and 19 runs scored. His batting average in the World Series was .373. Munson threw out 44.48% of base runners who tried stealing a base on him, ranking him 11th on the all-time list. • 1st all time – Singles in a World Series, 9 • 10th all time – Batting average by catcher, .292 • 11th all time – Postseason batting average, .357 • 11th all time – Caught stealing percentage • 16th all time – On base percentage by catcher • 20th all time – OPS by catcher • 24th all time – Slugging by catcher • 26th all time – Hits by catcher • 26th all time – Runs by catcher • AL Rookie of the Year (1970) • AL MVP (1976) • 3× Gold Glove Award • 3 AL Pennants • 2 World Series titles • 7× All Star ==See also==