The chill still shivers down my spine. It was August 2, 1979, and the car radio crackled out the news: Thurman Munson, the Yankees captain, was gone in a plane crash.
Those who never saw Thurman play missed a mixture of granite and moxie. He was the heart and soul of the Yankees great teams of the late 1970’s. And he was as dependable as the sun rising in the morning.
But teammate Lou Pinella saw a softer side, according to Baseball Almanac. “People sometimes got the wrong impression of Thurman, that he was grumpy, that he was a tough guy. He wasn’t like that at all. To me he was friendly, witty, charming, a real good friend. That’s what I’ll remember about him, the good times, the kidding around, the laughter, the beers after a game together. In all the years I’ve played this game, he is the finest competitor I have ever seen, the most professional, the best example of a team player.”
His career numbers don’t come close to telling the whole story. He was a lifetime .292 hitter. It was an average that could have been much higher, had he not played the majority of his career in pain.
But it was in the postseason that Thurman shined the most. That’s when his average skyrocketed to .357, including .373 in the World Series. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1970 and the Most Valuable Player in 1976. George Steinbrenner retired his number 15 right away. The Yankees honored him with a plaque in Monument Park in 1980.
And as great as he was on the field, he was even greater at home. “I’m never going to have happiness the way I had it with Thurman,” his wife Diana said, according to The New York Daily News. “It was the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, being married to him and raising our children. I can sit around and complain about how I missed out and the kids missed out, or I can choose to say, ‘How blessed are we? We had Dad for the years we had him. We’re healthy. We have wonderful children and grandchildren. We have way more than most people ever have as far as love and good memories, and isn’t that what it’s all about?”
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