Thurman Munson: What Could have been?
If your over the age of 50 and are a fan of the New York Yankees, it’s safe to say you saw Thurman Munson in his playing day. Thurman Munson played from 1969 to 1979 for the Yankees. His rookie year was 1970. Over his career, he hit 113 home runs, drove in 701 runs, and had a .292 batting average.
In addition, he would become a seven time All Star, one time MVP, AL Rookie of the Year in 1970, three time gold glove winner, and was apart of two World Series teams. He had a promising career as he became Yankee captain in 1976. The last one was Yankee icon, Lou Gerhig. This promising career came to a halt in August of 1979. On an off day, Munson would end up practicing landing his aircraft at Akron-Canton Airport. However, one of the practices didn’t go well and would lead him to get a broken neck. His cause of death was asphyxiation. The Yankees would end up retiring his number the next day and honor him in Monument Park.
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When baseball fans think of players not in the Hall of Fame that should be, Munson tends to be on that list. While I know he will probably never get into the Hall of Fame, i feel he would have if he played a few more years. He may have been able to get his numbers up. In addition, he would have been in the discussion of top catchers. People need to remeber, the 1970’s was a boom period for the catcher position. Some of the names of catchers who played in that era include Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter,Joe Torre, and so on.
The mystery of Munson is that he didn’t play long. However, in the almost nine years he did play, he did make an impact. He took command of being the catcher.
Here’s a clip on the announcement of his death:
Jon is a diehard wrestling fan but still takes time to show his devotion to the Giants, Mets, and Knicks
