My son is only six, but he’s baseball crazy and he’s adopted number 15. Of course, Thurman Munson wore 15, and he was my childhood hero. His death in 1979 was the most traumatic thing that happened to me as a kid. It was like the world had ended.
Finn asked me how he died today and I told him that he died in a plane crash while he was practicing takeoffs and landings. But I discovered that I simply couldn’t talk about it. I’m 46 years old, and I still can’t talk about Munson dying without sobbing.
There’s just something about doing things the right way.
Thank God I got Don Mattingly a few years later to set that example for me again. And then Derek Jeter. It’s been a blessing to be a Yankees fan, not because they have a big budget, but because I’ve had those three men to teach me how to conduct myself.
Munson died just before I turned ten years old. I was playing my first year of Little League. And he’d already taught me exactly how I wanted to be.
Derek Jeter? Really?
My younger sister worked as a waitress in NYC when she was younger and served Jeter on several occasions.
maybe you are a scumbag asshole.
Yeah, maybe. I don’t assault teenage girls and threaten to get them fired when they complain though.
Boo, my wife was a big Yankees fan as a kid, and Munson was also her favorite and her hero. ( Living in Canada I was a hockey fan at that age. I didn’t really start to follow baseball until my son started playing.) Anyway, like you she still gets choked up over his untimely death. Who do kids have to look to today for their role models?
small planes are dangerous
Yeah, well, Prince Fielder taught me that I could eat a lot of food and yet still do alright for a few years.
OK, that was funny. Thanks!
Good for you, Martin, and thanks for posting this. I don’t remember Munson much, to be honest, but we all need heroes when we are young and our lives largely aspirational. So men have hearts and grieve for the fallen heroes of their innocence; seems a gift to the man from himself and a timely and appropriate reveal to his son. I was very touched by this post, bless you.
I was a Red Sox fan at the time. Why, as a lifelong Californian? I liked their boom boom offense, their valiant performance in the ’75 Series, and their underdog Puritan drama. And Yaz, and Rice, and Dewey, and Tiant, and many others.
So I wasn’t attached to Thurman himself; with his role as the leader of a team who engaged my guys like this, it was inevitable that my young man blood would rise:
That said, the moment Munson’s death became public, I already knew better than to take a moment to think how the Yankees’ loss of their All-Star catcher might help Boston. The Red Sox had already begun to teach me the concept of tragedy, and the need to treat those experiencing tragedy with respect.
Happy for you, Martin, to hear about Finn’s treatment of you. Thanks for sharing.
Very New York exchange you’ve engaged in upthread, BTW. Another Yankees tradition, right?
Thanks for posting that clip. Saw that film when I was young and I hated it. But I must have been too young. The scene was quite interesting. Will have to watch the whole film again.
I’m a fan of James Brooks, but even I would concede that “Terms of Endearment” is a mixed bag, even though it won the Best Picture Academy Award. Got a lot of great moments, though, this one included.
“Broadcast News” is his best for my tastes; great subject matter, and a lighter mood than many of his stories, which is saying something. Brooks is willing to present plots with a cast of characters ranging from somewhat to extremely unlikable.
This preference is admirably risky and most often makes for movies which resonate with truth, but are not consistently enjoyable. They make me feel a little emotionally roughed up; not usually what I’m wanting, but sometimes that fits my mood.
A similar thought from an earlier generation:
He starts to think about the Big Leagues in baseball and is motivated by thoughts of his hero DiMaggio: “But I must have the confidence and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel.”
For me, it was Reggie Lewis. Thirteen and couldn’t believe that it was cocaine that did him in. Just couldn’t believe it. He was a local guy, too.
It very nearly was Paul Pierce, too.
Good God, Reggie Lewis. Had let his end slip my mind. I was a rabid ‘Sixers’ fan, but again, some tragedies are just so horrible it doesn’t matter which team suffered the most direct loss, it was destabilizing and demoralizing for all. Lewis was a fine player who had developed so terrifically.
Hank Gathers
I teach at Kent State Stark and pass the field that Thurman’s plane went down several times a week. I always think about that as I drive down and back I-77.
At 52, I’m not into hero worship. Lots of people die tragically every day and I’ve no particular sadness for a rich and famous person just because we’re all aware of what goes on in their lives. But dial the clock back to 1979 and, as a kid who had just turned 16 and was a Yankee addict for a bunch of years, Munson’s death was devastating. I grew up with this man at the center of my world. Of course I didn’t really know him but at 16 it felt like I did.
From where I stand today, I wouldn’t think Munson the best role model. He could be mouthy and judgmental. He was your basic lunch bucket kind of guy. But for better or worse he was one of my role models and, thus, he’s perhaps contributed at least in small ways to the person I came to be. Of course multiply that by all the young Yankee fans of our time and the guy had a huge impact. My favorites were Munson, Chambliss, Pinella, Guidry, Roy White, Ed Figeroa, Willie Randolph and Greg Nettles, Lyle and later Gossage — for the way they played the game, leaving it all on the field. Reggie was a bit too showy for my taste but I loved him just the same because he was a Yankee.