41 Years Ago Today; The Yankees Captain, Thurman Munson dies in an aircraft accident

[Dennis Donovan]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurman_Munson



Thurman Lee Munson (June 7, 1947 – August 2, 1979) was an American professional baseball catcher who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees, from 1969 until his death in 1979. A seven-time All-Star, Munson had a career batting average of .292 with 113 home runs and 701 runs batted in (RBIs). Known for his outstanding fielding, he won the Gold Glove Award in three consecutive years (1973–75).

Born in Akron, Ohio, Munson was selected as the fourth pick of the 1968 MLB draft and was named as the catcher on the 1968 College Baseball All-American Team. Munson hit over .300 in his two seasons in the minor leagues, establishing himself as a top prospect. He became the Yankees' starting catcher late in the 1969 season, and after his first complete season in 1970, in which he batted .302, he was voted American League (AL) Rookie of the Year. Considered the "heart and soul" of the Yankees, Munson was named captain of the Yankees in 1976, the team's first since Lou Gehrig. That same year, he won the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, making him the only Yankee to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards.

As captain, Munson helped lead the Yankees to three consecutive World Series appearances from 1976 to 1978, winning championships in the latter two years. He is the first player in baseball history to be named a College Baseball All-American and then in MLB win a Rookie of the Year Award, MVP Award, Gold Glove Award, and World Series championship. He is also the only catcher in MLB postseason history to record at least a .300+ batting average (.357), 20 RBIs (22), and 20 defensive caught stealings (24).

During an off day in the summer of 1979, Munson died at age 32 while practicing landing his Cessna Citation aircraft at Akron–Canton Airport. He suffered a broken neck as result of the crash, and his cause of death was asphyxiation. The Yankees honored him by immediately retiring his uniform 15, and dedicating a plaque to him in Monument Park.

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Death
Munson had been flying for over a year and purchased a Cessna Citation I/SP jet so he could fly home to his family in Canton on off-days. On the afternoon of Thursday, August 2, 1979, he was practicing takeoffs and landings at the Akron-Canton Regional Airport with friend Jerry Anderson and flight instructor Dave Hall. Shortly after 3:40 pm EDT, Munson had received clearance for takeoff and three touch-and-go landings on Runway 23, which were completed.

While on approach for the fourth and final landing on a different runway (19), Munson did not extend the flaps and allowed the aircraft to sink too low before increasing engine power, causing the jet to clip a tree and fall short of the runway. The plane then hit a tree stump and burst into flames, on Greensburg Road, 870 feet (265 m) short of runway 19.

Hall and Anderson both survived the accident. Hall received burns on his arms and hands, and Anderson received burns on his face, arm and neck. Munson suffered a broken neck from the impact and would have most likely suffered from quadriplegia had he lived. Munson died of asphyxiation due to the inhalation of superheated air and toxic substances.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the crash stated that the probable cause was "...the pilot's failure to recognize the need for, and to take action to maintain, sufficient airspeed to prevent a stall into the ground during an attempted landing. The pilot also failed to recognize the need for timely and sufficient power application to prevent the stall during an approach conducted inadvertently without flaps extended. Contributing to the pilot's inability to recognize the problem and to take proper action was his failure to use the appropriate checklist and his nonstandard pattern procedures which resulted in an abnormal approach profile." Munson was not wearing the available shoulder harness restraint, only a lap belt, which contributed to the severity of his injuries.

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Photograph of the remains of Thurman Munson's plane on Greensburg Road, just north of the Akron-Canton Airport. Munson, a catcher for the New York Yankees, crashed his plane during practice landings at the airport; he died from smoke inhalation but both of his passengers escaped the plane before it went up in flames. The Federal Aviation Administration ruled that the crash was a result of Munson's inability to properly control the plane.

[dewsgirl]

1. K and R

[Ferrets are Cool]

2. Hard to believe it's been 41 years.

I remember the day I heard about it.

[Raftergirl]

3. Remember it like it was yesterday.

I lived in Manhattan at the time and went to Yankee games almost every game.

Thurman was the backbone on the team.

[luvs2sing]

4. I remember the chill I felt..

when I saw his death certificate. I was working for the Ohio Department of Health, my first job. Every month, I received all the death certificates for accidental deaths in Ohio, and I manually tracked them and reported on trends (hmmmm..a lot of people are dying of choking in X County. We need to schedule some Heimlich Maneuver training there). I really wasn’t a baseball fan yet, but I had read about it in the paper, and it was a real jolt to be holding his death certificate in my hands.