Thurman Munson, centerpiece of those '76 through '78 Yankee Winners killed practicing with his airplane. What a great piece of equipment that man was!!!!!!!!!!
My favorite Yankee Team was the '78. Hard Core Ball Players like Lou, Nettles, and Thurman, with scrappy Billy Martin as manager. That's when the Yankees Red Sox Rivalry was one in all respects, ditto Kansas City.
RIP Captain He was a true leader, smart and rock solid. What set Munson apart from other Yankee "captains" was him being a catcher. Behind the plate he was literally the field general where he had alot of control, showed his toughness and was masterful at handling the pitching staffs. You can better understand and see the leadership qualities of a "Captain" who happens to be a catcher. While his career numbers were certainly very good from the catcher's position - .292 BA .756 OPS, the more you watched him play, the more you appreciated and respected him. He was also excellent at CS, 44% for his career and was still (imo) the best catcher I ever saw at receiving throws which bounced and applying the tag at home plate. I saw him pickoff GOOD baserunners....including Bert Campaneris on 3rd base. And of course he was at his best when the chips were down. Career post season: 30g, 129 AB, .357/.874 3 ALCS: .339/ .833 3 WS: .373/.909 His career "numbers" may not be good enough for this HOF, but in my opinion he was EVERY BIT as good as recent catchers who have been inducted. No doubt in my mind whatsoever.
Hard and tough as railroad spikes, driven in one's coffin if they dared to slide into home on a close play..... "the heart and soul of the team", first named Capt. since Gehrig, said alot.....I still believe had Thurman of stuck with his prop Cessna, in lieu of buying a Cessna Citation I Jet, he may still be with us......don't wanna' second guess, but its a very sad accident in MLB lore' IMO, (not just great Yanx Lore)....
Dent and Doyle turned out to be the main cases of expect the unexpected people who went above and beyond. Nettles, Pinella, and Thurman were the daily duty bad asses of that group. Still remember Nettles kicking Reggies ass during the '81 season.
On my All Time Yankee Team since I became a fan Nettles is my Third Baseman, Willie Randolph my Second Baseman.
I believe Nettles also dislocated Bill Lee's shoulder when he slammed him into the ground during a Yankee/Redsox brawl. Spaceman Bill Lee, lol - he used to call the Yanks: "Billy Martin's Brownshirts".
As stunned as Fans were, it was shocking to see the Yanx take the field the very next day. I thought if I'm bothered, distracted, then how in the hell must the Yanx Player's be; most were devastated, yet they still took the field. Thought the Commish should of called MLB off that day, back then... still have the August 3rd game on VHS tape, as well as the Aug. 6th game, when the player's had just returned from His Funeral.... very moving moments.... Or- as Wikipedia puts it better than I: 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. Jerry Narron, the man who would replace Munson behind the plate that night, remained in the dugout and did not enter the field until stadium announcer Bob Sheppard said, "And now it is time to play ball. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your co-operation." On August 6, the entire Yankee team attended Munson's funeral in Canton, Ohio. Teammates Lou Piniella and Bobby Murcer, who were Munson's best friends, gave eulogies. That night (before a national viewing audience on ACC'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
That August 3 game was the game no one wanted to play according to the Broadcast team. The Yankees behind the best efforts of Luis Tiant could not come up with the win.
