Still Thinking of Thurman

 

More than 1,000 people (including members of the Yankees) waited outside of the Canton Civic Center on Aug. 6, 1979 in Canton, Ohio to pay their respects to Thurman Munson after Munson's funeral attended by more than 500 people including his family and the entire New York Yankees' team and many of their wives. Bobby Murcer, Lou Piniella, and George Steinbrenner are easy to spot. (New York Daily News)

Forty-three years have passed since we lost Thurman Munson.

Yankees fans -- and fans who have a heart -- still mourn this day as we do the anniversary of Roberto Clemente or, in a non-baseball sense, Kobe Bryant.

Still, with Thurman, it was different. Like Darryl Kyle, Lyman Bostock, and Jose Fernandez, his death happened during the season. Each one of those players was legit stars and bright lights in the baseball world.

Munson, however, was the captain of the Yankees -- the first one (however honorary the title is) since Lou Gehrig in 1939.  Munson was in the middle of a possible Hall of Fame career.

Munson was a true superstar, no worse than the third-best catcher in baseball at the time of his death. He, Carlton Fisk, and Johnny Bench were the clear big three with Bob Boone and Ted Simmons right there.

That takes nothing away from any of those other players but Munson had been on the postseason stage the previous three years.

Now, August 2, 1979, he was gone. Dead in an airplane crash.

His own airplane.

One that -- even if he had lived -- it's pretty clear he would not have walked out of thanks to the very nature of his injuries. It is in fact those injuries that led to his two passengers in the plane that day having to leave him. They could not get him out of his seat as the plane filled with smoke and flames.

Unimaginable.

Only 32 years old.

There are so many "what ifs" with Thurman.

Would he have gone to Cleveland after 1979, as had been rumored?

Would he come back to the Yankees in 1980?

Was he done as a catcher?

Could he still be a good hitter, given injuries were a factor?

Would he move to first base? His last game was at first base, in fact.

Would he be a designated hitter?

How would all of this impact the Yankees?

The Yankees weren't going to catch the Orioles in 1979. They were the clear best team in the American League that year.

But, what about 1980?

Or after?

How much longer does he play?

Instead, as death tends to do, everything is frozen.

Munson remains 32. His facial hair -- often grown to mess with George Steinbrenner -- is stuck in time, There's no gray to be found.

You can't help but think about Diana, his wonderful widow who has remained the face of the Munson family. You wonder how her life -- and the lives of their kids -- would have changed.

But, no. We're always left with the "what ifs" and the still profound sadness that older fans like me still feel.

I was 10 when it happened, gleefully flying around Longview Drive on my red and black Huffy bicycle and playing baseball in my yard. I was taking my swings on the side of the house day after day, targeting the swamp and empty lot across the street.

It felt like we were forced to grow up with this news.

In reality, that wasn't true but it was still a harsh reality.

For years, the Yankees would play a highlight montage of Thurman, with this sad guitar music underneath it. I could swear they continued to play that into the late 90s though perhaps not as often as they had years earlier.

The Stadium would grow extremely quiet as grown men and women gulped back tears. Then polite applause would rise until a crescendo of appreciation for number 15 sounded out.

He was our 70s captain, the one who wasn't supposed to be. The role of captain had been retired with the death of Lou Gehrig but that didn't stop George Steinbrenner. Munson, Graig Nettles, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Don Mattingly, and of course, Derek Jeter have had the "job" since then.

Forty-three years later, we still mourn that dark day and that awful weekend, capped by the funeral and "The Bobby Murcer Game" that Monday night.

We still remember our Tugboat.

Our catcher.

Our champion and MVP.

Our number 15 forever.