Forty years today

[Yankee4Life]

It was forty years ago today that the baseball world lost Thurman Munson. More importantly a wife lost her husband and three children lost their father.

 

Just as many of you can recall where you were and what you were doing on September 11th, 2001, what happened on Thursday, August 2nd, 1979 also came as a total shock. That week my family and I were vacationing near Lake Oneida in Canastota, New York and on that morning we decided to take a little daytrip down to Cooperstown to visit the Hall of Fame.

 

It was a warm and beautiful summer day and I didn't have a care in the world. I was in Cooperstown, we were staying at a cottage near a wonderful lake and it was summertime. What more could I want?

 

We arrived back in Canastota in the late afternoon and before we had dinner I turned the TV on and I heard a news anchorman mention something about Thurman Munson dying in a plane crash. I thought I didn't hear what he said correctly but a little while later it was repeated on the newscast and that is when I knew it was true. We still had a few days left on our vacation before we headed home but for me after I heard that news my vacation was done.

 

I have no personal stories to share about Munson because I never had the opportunity to meet him but he was my favorite Yankee and he remains so to this day. As a guy that played as much as he could and for as long as he could and that is something you cannot say about the current starting catcher for the Yankees. When the Yankees need Gary Sanchez the most he is on the disabled list doing absolutely nothing. When the Yankees needed Thurman Munson the most he was behind the plate doing his job.

 

It's my hope that before tonight's game against the despicable Boston Red Sox the Yankees do something to honor Munson, hopefully with a moment of silence or if not that a video montage of his career.

 

Sometimes I wonder what Munson would've done had he lived. By 1979 his knees were really beginning to bother him and his days as a starting catcher were probably numbered. A designated hitter's role was probably what he was going to fall into. He could have been a good manager because he knew the game very well. But more importantly had he lived his family in Ohio would be a lot happier today.

 

R.I.P., always.

 

[Kccitystar]

Munson was awesome. Loved seeing old Yankees games when he played. I'm still working on getting that mustache going though

[sabugo]

Reading this, it's easy to see why today's players get on your nerves so much. In your mind, you're comparing every Yankee player to Munson.
It's pretty hard to live up to the legend.

[Yankee4Life]

11 hours ago, Kccitystar said:

Munson was awesome. Loved seeing old Yankees games when he played. I'm still working on getting that mustache going though

I love watching him play at all that time I had no idea I was watching classic Yankee baseball. Good luck on that mustache. I've never had one of those or beard in my entire life.

 

11 hours ago, sabugo said:

Reading this, it's easy to see why today's players get on your nerves so much. In your mind, you're comparing every Yankee player to Munson.
It's pretty hard to live up to the legend.

In a way you are right. I have no patience for people like Alfonso Soriano, Robinson Cano and Gary Sanchez. As talented as all three of them are I would never want them on any team I was putting together.

 

I don't compare every Yankee to Munson because that wouldn't be fair. For example, Mariano Rivera. There's many others but Rivera is the first that comes to mind.