Talk:Thurman Munson

TV series

Was there not a TV series about a baseball player who died and with his wife became a ghostly angel? It seems inspired in this and must be mentioned in here I think.

opinions

Thurman should be in the Hall of Fame. Only Bench was better in his era. He only paid ten years but he should be in there.

I loved and identified with Thurmon Munson but he shouldn't be in the Hall until Bill Freehan is in. Freehan was a better defensive Catcher and played in an era when the Pitchers dominated. If you adjust for the era, he outhit Munson. Munson died tragically but it robbed him of his retirement years. He wasn't playing well anymore. Will in New Haven

Fisk rivalry

Anyone have examples to support the claim of a feud with Fisk? The paragraph that mentions this feud is pretty weak without any.

Yea, it seems as if a Yankee fan just put that in there as a pathetic way to stick it to Red Sox fans, when I dont even remember there being a feud between the two nor do I remember any Red Sox fans bragging that Fisk was better.

Stick what to Red Sox fans? If anything it was a Sox fan that put it in there. I removed it because I found it distasteful and insulting to have Munson & Fisk labeled as rivals in the section about his death. If you want to write about the Feud thats finne but should be in the section about his career and have some factual statements to support the claim of a feud. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.51.106 (talk) 07:38, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Decline of 1979 Yankees after Munson's death

Am I the only person who recognizes that after Munson died, the 1979 Yankees started to go down the tubes? DanTD 18:50, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Belatedly (11 years!), no. This recent New York Times article, about the collection of depositions by many of Martin's teammates from the suits filed against Cessna and the flight-instruction company by the Yankees (dismissed before trial) and Diana Munson (settled out of court largely because they knew they weren't going to win in Northeast Ohio against the grieving widow of a local hero), depositions taken mainly to establish his state of mind in the weeks before the crash, has Graig Nettles admitting as much:

"When Thurman got killed, you know, we just lost all—the whole season was just kind of lost," Nettles stated. "We just realized we couldn't do it and, you know, it demoralized a lot of us."

So I suppose we should and could add this to the article.

Actually, the whole collection of depositions, alluded to but not linked (apparently it's on Facebook) would make good sources. Reggie Jackson, Gene Monahan and (especially) Billy Martin talk about Munson's playing and personal habits. Some things that might work in the article:

• Monahan says that every game day, Munson would come in early and have ... some milk and chocolate chip cookies (Wow! I wonder what Mickey Mantle would have thought!).
• Gene also says that after hearing of Munson's death, he sat in front of #15's locker for five hours in total shock and ... "curiously", threw away of all Munson's medical records. The Times could not reach him for comment. I wonder if there's any connection between that and the amphetamine use that Diana Munson said she believed Thurman indulged in earlier in his career (not at all uncommon among pro athletes at the time ... supposedly that era's Pittsburgh Steelers just left bowls out on the tables in the locker room) but had stopped when he began flying.
• Billy says that Munson was the best catcher in baseball at that time, better even than Johnny Bench, and the only catcher he allowed to signal pitchouts on his own initiative, since Billy thought Munson was smart enough to make that call himself (And according to the Times' coverage of the funeral, Martin was bawling like a baby throughout—something that should probably be in the article as I can't otherwise imagine Billy crying like that over anything.

Also, interesting take on Munson's father from that funeral article—didn't sit with the rest of the family and left early to get back to what he said was a business meeting in Tucson. Daniel Case (talk) 20:39, 11 August 2018 (UTC)

Great Quote, should be in the article

"(Thurman) Munson's not moody, he's just mean. When you're moody, you're nice sometimes." - Sparky Lyle I don't think of this as negative. Of course I have an all-time redass team and Munson is on it but I don't consider any of it really negative. Will in New Haven

Fisk feud

I've removed that paragraph; it just didn't add anything to this article. If someone can get a cite, go ahead and put it back, but only if the incident(s) (if any) were actually significant. This is what I cut out: "Munson also maintained a feud with the other top catcher in the American League in the 1970s, Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox. Fisk's ability to play until he was 45 years old (despite missing time in many seasons due to injuries) allowed him to build up career statistics that far exceeded Munson's. Many of those numbers came while Fisk was with the Chicago White Sox." Matt Deres (talk) 13:37, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

The book Dog Days, about the 1964–76 Yankees (i.e., the teams that made no postseason appearances, roughly coincidental with CBS's ownership) goes into some detail about this; Munson always felt that Fisk got more attention because he was better-looking. In particular, it galled him that Fisk got selected for the All-Star team during his rookie season (1972?) even though Munson had better numbers at the time. Supposedly, during any mound conference where the discussion was about how to get Fisk out (or any group of players including Fisk), Munson always had a lot of ideas.

Also, the authors talk to one unnamed pitcher who was caught by both of them. Asked which was better, he said while they were both among his best catchers, if it came down to the two of them he would easily have gone with Munson, as Fisk was clearly better at only two things: he hit more home runs and was a better baserunner. Daniel Case (talk) 20:48, 11 August 2018 (UTC)

Locker

His locker is no longer in the locker room. Its now in the yankee museum in the new yankee stadium. I dont have a link for this and have seen it in person. I dont want to update without a good link for it. Anyone have one? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.91.227.10 (talk) 14:21, 10 June 2009 (UTC)