A little over three months ago, on August 2nd, baseball fans throughout the country noted the 40th anniversary of the tragic death of New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson. At the time the death of Munson, caused by a crash of a plane he was piloting, was a shock to the entire baseball world. Munson, the first Yankees’ captain since Lou Gehrig, was one of the most famous players in the game of baseball. He was a 7-time All-Star, a 2-time World Series champion and a star in the nation’s biggest media market.

Munson was the kind of player who had an aura of a future Hall of Famer. He was a hard-nosed, team-oriented player who frequently played with pain. The mustachioed backstop went by several nicknames, The Walrus, Squatty Body and Tugboat.

Tragically, with his passing at the age of 32, Munson didn’t accumulate the statistics that would impress Hall of Fame voters. He spent 15 years on the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) ballot from 1981 to 1995, never earning more than 15.5% support in a vote that requires 75% to be elected.

This December, the current version of the Veterans Committee (the Modern Baseball Committee) will examine the careers of ten men whose primary impact on the game occurred between 1970 and 1987. Although Munson was bypassed on the last couple of iterations of this ballot,  on Monday the Hall of Fame announced that the Yankee captain was one of the ten candidates who will be considered.

Munson will be on the ballot with another catcher (Ted Simmons) and another Yankee (Don Mattingly) along with Steve Garvey, Dale Murphy, Dwight Evans, Dave Parker, Lou Whitaker, Tommy John, and former MLB Players Association head Marvin Miller.

In this piece, I’ll first recap Munson’s 11-year career and the impact of his death. At the end, there will be full examination of the question of whether Munson deserves to be elected by the Modern Baseball Committee for a plaque in the Hall of Fame.

Cooperstown Cred: Thurman Munson (C)

  • New York Yankees (1969-1979)
  • Career: .292 BA, 113 HR, 701 RBI, 1,558 Hits
  • Career: 116 OPS+, 46.1 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
  • 1970 A.L. Rookie of the Year (.302 BA, .801 OPS, 52% CS as catcher)
  • 1976 A.L. MVP (.302 BA, 17 HR, 105 RBI)
  • 7-time All-Star
  • 3-time Gold Glove Award winner
  • Won 2 World Series Championships with Yankees
  • Career postseason: .357 BA, 3 HR, 22 RBI in 135 plate appearances

(cover photo: Associated Press)

Thurman Munson: Early Years

Thurman Lee Munson was born on June 7, 1947 in Akron, Ohio, the youngest of four children born to Darrell and Ruth Munson. At Lehman High School in Canton, Munson was a three-sport star in football, basketball and baseball. From his SABR bio, Munson started catching during his junior year because he was the only player on the team that could handle the 90 mile-per-hour fastball of teammate Jerry Pruett, a future fifth round draft pick.

In high school Thurman was heavily recruited for both football and baseball; he settled on Kent State for baseball, mostly because it was close to his girlfriend (and future wife) Diana Dominick. After three years at Kent State, Munson was the first round draft pick of the New York Yankees in June 1968. Munson spent only parts of two seasons in the minor leagues before making his major league debut in August 1969.

In his first start, Munson faced future teammate and Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter. Munson singled off Hunter for his first MLB hit and followed that up with a 2-run single later in the game against reliever Marcel Lachemann. In his second start, Munson hit his first big league home run off the A’s Lew Krausse.

1970: Rookie of the Year

Because he only had 97 plate appearances in 1969, Thurman Munson was still technically a rookie in 1970. The 22-year old right-handed hitter was anointed the Yankees starting catcher. Munson had impressed manager Ralph Houk in the spring of ’69; the Yankees skipper marveled at Munson’s “cannon” for an arm.

As a rookie, Munson hit .302 with a .386 on-base% and also showed off that arm by throwing out 34 of the 65 runners who attempted to steal a base, a superb 52% caught stealing rate. For those efforts, Thurman was a nearly unanimous choice for A.L. Rookie of the Year.

Using today’s metrics, Thurman posted a 126 OPS+ (26% above league average) and a 5.5 WAR, which was the best in the American League for catchers. Munson helped lead the Yankees to 93 wins, the most for the team since 1964. That total was 15 wins shy of the 108-win Baltimore Orioles in the A.L. East but was a good harbinger of things to come.

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1971-1975: Prelude to the Championship Years

As many players do, Thurman Munson had a bit of a sophomore slump in 1971. He hit just .251 (with a 105 OPS+) but continued to dominate defensively, throwing out a career best 61% of all would-be base thieves. The slower season with the bat didn’t stop Munson from earning his first of seven All-Star bids.

After another middling campaign in 1972, Munson had arguably the best season of his career with the bat in ’73. He hit .301 with a 142 OPS+ thanks to newly developed power. Thurman hit 20 home runs (a career best) in ’73 to go with 74 RBI. He also won the first of three consecutive Gold Glove awards and finished 12th in the MVP balloting.

In the American League in the early 1970’s, a rivalry was emerging between Munson and the Boston Red Sox’ Carlton Fisk. The Sox’ backstop won the A.L. Rookie of the Year award in 1972, two years after Munson claimed it. Both players were All-Stars in ’73 but Fisk was voted the starter in the fan balloting.

The simmering rivalry and hatred boiled over on August 1, 1973. In the 9th inning of a tie game at Fenway Park, Munson was on third base when shortstop Gene Michael missed the ball on a suicide squeeze attempt. Munson and Fisk collided at the plate (Munson was called out) and the two backstops initiated a bench-clearing brawl. It was this brawl that was the genesis of the intense rivalry that would continue between the two teams and their proud catchers for the rest of the decade.

Munson had somewhat of an off year in 1974 but started the All-Star Game after Fisk suffered a season-ending knee injury a few weeks earlier. Munson finished ’74 with a .261 BA (101 OPS+).

In 1975, Thurman had a huge year with the bat. For years, Munson had bounced around different positions in the batting order. After a blistering start in ’75 (Thurman hit .410 in his first 23 games), manager Bill Virdon installed his catcher into the cleanup spot. When Virdon was replaced by Billy Martin, the new Yankees’ skipper kept his catcher in the 4th spot in the order. Munson responded by driving in 102 runs, his first of 3 consecutive seasons with at least 100 RBI. He would finish 7th in the A.L. MVP vote.

Thurman Munson: Tough Guy

There were two moments in the first five full years of Thurman Munson’s career that defined his toughness and ability to bounce back. In the first incident, on June 18, 1971 in Baltimore, Munson was knocked unconscious when Orioles catcher Andy Etchebarren bowled him over at home plate. Munson was taken to a nearby hospital but turned out to be OK. He pinch hit the next day and started the day after that.

As Christopher Devine noted in his biography Thurman Munson: A Baseball Biography, “unconsciousness is what it took for him to make an error that season.” A dropped ball on the collision with Etchebarren would be the lone miscue in 614 chances for the sophomore receiver in ’71.

The next incident took place on June 24, 1975 in Chicago in the first game of a doubleheader against the White Sox. In the top of the 8th inning, Munson was hit by a pitch, nailed on the elbow by a Goose Gossage fastball.

I plunked Thurman Munson right on the point of the elbow. Smoked him as solidly as you can hit someone. Munson, being a manly man, insisted on walking down to first base under his own power.. Before he left the park, Munson tore a tiny piece of paper off a tablet and wrote me a personal message. “I took your best bleeping shot, you motherbleeper,” he scrawled. He sighnd the note “The White Gorrilla.” It being Thurman, his misspelled the word gorilla. 

— Goose Gossage, The Goose is Loose (2000)

Note: in his book, Gossage didn’t actually write “bleeping.”

Munson was removed from that game for x-rays, which proved to be negative. The Yankee catcher returned to Comiskey Park in time to pinch hit in the second game of the double header.

Thurman Munson, in his entire career, never spent a day on the disabled list.

1976: Pennant Winners

Before the 1976 campaign, Thurman Munson was named by Martin as the team’s captain, the first player so honored since the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig.

“I’ll be a terrible captain. I’m too belligerent. I cuss and swear at people. I yell at umpires, and maybe I’m a little too tough at home. I don’t sign autographs like I should and I haven’t always been very good with writers.”

— Thurman Munson (upon being named captain), reported by Sports Illustrated (Sept 13, 1976)

Munson responded to the responsibility of recognized team leadership with a superb campaign. He set the tone early by hitting the first home run by the Bronx Bombers in the newly renovated Yankee Stadium.

For the season, Munson hit .302 to go with 17 home runs with 105 RBI. The 29-year old catcher also stole 14 bases. Although, by WAR (which of course didn’t exist at the time), it was only his 4th best season, given that the Yankees won a league-best 97 games, it was good enough to give him the MVP award.

The 1976 ALCS against the Kansas City Royals is famous for the walk-off home run in Game 5 by first baseman Chris Chambliss but Munson also had a big series, hitting .435 while driving in 3 runs. In the World Series, the Yankees were swept by Sparky Anderson’s Big Red Machine. A year after a World Series matchup of All-Star catchers Fisk and Johnny Bench, this Fall Classic featured Bench and the soon-to-be MVP Munson.

In losing, Munson was the Yankees’ hitting star, batting .529 with 2 RBI. Bench bested his counterpart, however, hitting .533 but with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. Bench would be named the World Series MVP a few weeks before Munson would earn the honor for the A.L. for the entire campaign.

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1977: Reggie Jackson Joins the Yankees

In the offseason after the World Series loss, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner had dinner with the Yankees’ captain to solicit his opinion about whether to sign free agent outfielder Reggie Jackson. “Go get the big man,” Thurman Munson told The Boss. “He’s the only guy in baseball who can carry a club for a month. And the hell with what you hear. He hustles every minute on the field.”

Steinbrenner signed Jackson to a 5-year, $2.9 million contract. Despite having given George the thumbs up, Jackson’s contract did rankle Munson, who had previously been promised by Steinbrenner that he would always be the Yankees’ highest paid player. Reggie threw gasoline on the situation early in 1977 in an infamous Sport magazine article in which he allegedly said that “Munson thinks he can be the straw that stirs the drink, but he can only stir it bad.” Years later, Reggie has denied that he made the comment.

Jackson, of course, more famously feuded with manager Billy Martin but the off-field drama didn’t stop the Yankees from winning 100 games to claim their second straight A.L. East title. Munson followed up his MVP campaign with another superb season; he hit .308 with 18 home runs and 100 RBI on the nose. It was the third straight season in which the Yankee captain hit over .300 with at least 100 RBI. Jackson did his part for the ’77 Bronx Bombers, hitting 32 homers to go with 110 RBI and a 150 OPS+.

After another thrilling 5-game ALCS win over the Royals, the Yankees were matched up against Tommy Lasorda’s Los Angeles Dodgers, the first World Series featuring the longtime rivals since 1963. The Yankees won Game 1, with Munson delivering a key blow in the bottom of the 8th inning. With the score tied at 2, Munson stroked a go-ahead RBI double off future Hall of Famer Don Sutton. The Dodgers scored in the 9th, forcing the game into extra frames. The Yankees won it in 12 innings.

Munson had another good series (hitting .320 while throwing out 4 of 6 potential base stealers) but Reggie was the star. His three home runs in Game 6 earned him MVP honors and the moniker “Mr. October.”

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1978: The Bronx Zoo

The 1978 season for the New York Yankees was immortalized in a tell-all book by relief pitcher Sparky Lyle, a book entitled The Bronx Zoo. Lyle had won the 1977 Cy Young Award and was a hero in the ALCS by tossing 5.1 innings of scoreless relief in the crucial Game 4 win. He was “rewarded” in the offseason by Steinbrenner’s decision to sign flamethrower Goose Gossage, who replaced Lyle in the most high-leverage situations.

In the book, Lyle colorfully detailed the dysfunction in the Yankees’ clubhouse. As a 11-year old baseball fan, I found the behind the scene tales riveting. The clashes between Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin were well known and now the stuff of legend but Lyle had interesting tales about almost all of his teammates.

Here’s how Lyle described a confrontation between Munson and Martin after a plane flight from Kansas City to Chicago when the traveling secretary told the players that they couldn’t play their tape recorders without headphones because Martin didn’t like to hear the music after a loss:

Billy and the coaches were sitting up front in first class. Thurman was sitting in the front of the coach section.. and he kept pulling the earphone plug out of his machine, letting the music blare for a few seconds… I don’t know if he was teasing Billy or just having fun or if he was pissed off because we weren’t allowed to play our music out loud.

The plane landed, and Thurman got up, ready to get off, and in front of all the passengers Billy started yelling at him that he should be a better influence… Thurman said, “the only reason you’re saying this stuff now is that there are nine guys between us.” Thurman really didn’t mean it in such a way that he wanted to fight, he was just telling Billy more or less that hey, you’ve had too much to drink, keep quiet. But when Thurman said that, Billy went crazy. He tried to get at Thurman, and the coaches had to grab Billy and hold him back. All the while, Thurman was watching as Billy struggled to get free, laughing and shaking his head, which made Billy even more livid.

— Sparky Lyle, The Bronx Zoo (1979)

It should be known that this incident was not reflective of the relationship between Munson and Martin, who were generally close.

“Thurman was Dad’s favorite,” Billy Joe Martin said, “and the thing he probably loved most about him was that Thurman wouldn’t talk to the press. He’d turn his back on ’em and just look into his locker or he’d look at ’em and say, ‘Go to hell, get out of here. I’m not giving you leeches anything.’ My dad used to just look at him and say, “I wish I could do that.”

— David Falkner, The Last Yankee (1992)

Meanwhile, on the field, the Yankees won 100 games despite an off-year with the bat by the now 31-year old Munson. Thurman still hit .297 but saw his power numbers sag to 6 home runs with 71 RBI (with a league-average 101 OPS+). In the middle of the season, Munson had an 18-day “vacation” from the tools of ignorance to give a break to his ailing knees; he started 13 consecutive games in right field while Jackson temporarily became the team’s designated hitter.

During Munson’s 13 days in right field, the two-year feud between Jackson and manager Billy Martin sparked the skipper’s resignation. Veteran manager Bob Lemon took over the squad in late July and helped steer the Yankees to a 14-game comeback in the A.L. East to finish the regular season in a 100-win tie with the Red Sox.

The 1978 Postseason

After defeating the Red Sox in the tie-breaker game, the Yankees were matched up in the ALCS against the Royals for the third straight season. After the teams split the first two games, Munson was the hitting star of Game 3. With the Yankees trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the 8th inning, Munson hit a 2-run home run off Doug Bird to give the Bombers a 6-5 lead (and eventual win, saved by Gossage in the 9th). New York won Game 4 to advance to the Fall Classic for the third straight season.

Up against the Dodgers again in the World Series, the Yankees lost the first two games at Dodger Stadium. Back home for Game 3, the Yankees had 25-game winner Ron Guidry on the mound but the Gator didn’t have his best stuff. Thanks to some brilliant glove work at third base by Graig Nettles, the Yankees prevailed.

In Game 4, the Yankees were trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th. With one out, Munson doubled to left field off reliever Terry Forster to tie the score at 3. New York would go on to win in the bottom of the 10th on a walk-off single by Lou Piniella. In Game 5, Munson went 3 for 5 with 5 runs batted in to power the Bombers’ to an easy 12-2 win. The Yankees would win their 2nd consecutive championship two days later in Los Angeles. Overall, Thurman Munson hit .320 with 7 RBI in the series.

This would be Munson’s final postseason appearance; he finished with a .357 batting average (.874 OPS) and 22 RBI in 30 playoff games.

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1979: Final Season

Bothered by multiple injuries (both knees and shoulder), Thurman Munson played in 97 of the Yankees first 106 games but not up to his usual standards. He was hitting a respectable .288 but with little power, only 3 home runs and 18 doubles in 419 PA for a OPS+ of 95. Despite playing through pain, however, Munson still managed to throw out 46% of would-be base stealers, right in line with his 45% career rate.

After a victory on August 1st, the Yankees were a respectable 58-48 but that put them 14 games behind Earl Weaver’s Baltimore Orioles, who were off to a blistering 72-34 start. In late July, Munson had his aching knees checked and manager Billy Martin (re-hired as the team’s manager in June) speculated that Munson might not be able to catch for the rest of the season. In four games between July 29th and August 1st, Munson started at first base in three games and was the team’s designated hitter in the other.

Cessna Citation

After a Wednesday night game in Chicago, the Yankees had a day off on Thursday, August 1st. In the previous month, Thurman Munson purchased a Cessna Citation twin engine jet for $1.25 million with the expressed purpose of using it to more easily commute to Canton, Ohio on off days to spend more time with his wife and three children.

“Munson in 1979 clearly had changed from the good-time guy I’d grown to know so well… Instead of hanging out with the guys, he started keeping to himself. On the road, instead of having a few beers in the hotel bar, he stayed in his room studying aviation manuals. I believe that Thurman had grown tired of playing baseball. He’d had his fill of the circus atmosphere inside the Yankee clubhouse and the pressure of dealing with the insatiable New York media.”

— Goose Gossage, The Goose is Loose (2000)

Munson invited teammates Jackson, Piniella and Bobby Murcer to fly with him to Canton on the off-day. All three declined due to prior commitments but also because of some trepidation of flying with the inexperienced pilot. Murcer, one of Thurman’s teammates in his early years with the Yankees, had been reacquired by the Yankees from the Chicago Cubs just five weeks earlier. Because the Yankees had finished a series with the White Sox, he had things to do in Chi-town, where he had spent the previous two and a half seasons.

“He loved that plane. He was just delighted to be able to fly. That’s all he wanted to do. Every chance he had, he wanted to fly. He wanted my family and me to fly home with him that night and spend Thursday with him, but I had some things I had to do in Chicago, where I still have my apartment.”

— Bobby Murcer, The New York Times (August 6, 1979)

August 2, 1979

On August 2, 1979, Thurman Munson died when he crashed his Cessna Citation at the Canton-Akron airport. During the early afternoon on this day, he asked friends David Hall (previously his flight instructor) and Jerry Anderson to accompany him as he practiced “touch and go” landings. As noted in his SABR bio, after two successful landings, Munson was directed to a different, more elevated runway, by the airport air traffic controller. As the jet descended, it sheered off the top of three trees before slamming into a stump on the ground. The plane  eventually spun completely around, coming to stop 600 feet short of the runway.

Munson’s companions were able to exit the aircraft but couldn’t unlock Munson’s seat belt because of heat and fire inside the cockpit. Reports at the time indicated that Hall and Anderson tried valiantly to free Munson from the fiery plane but the “fire got so bad that they had to get out.” Thurman Munson officially died from asphyxiation due to the inhalation of super heated air and toxic substances.

“Nobody on the Yankees will say the year is over. And nobody should. Anything can happen. But in a sense, anything already has happened. The look on all of the Yankees’ faces is enough for anybody to know that the year is over. The year ended when they heard that Thurman Munson was dead.”

— Dave Anderson, The New York Times (August 6, 1979)

August 6, 1979

Four days after he passed away, funeral services were held for Thurman Munson. More than 500 people, including all Yankee team members and many of their wives, attended the funeral at Canton Civic Center. The Yankees team members all were up at 5:00 in the morning in order to get from New York to Canton in time for the service.

Another 1,000 other people waited outside to pay their last respects, and hundreds more lined the five-mile route to the Sunset Hills Cemetery, where Munson was buried. Bobby Murcer and Lou Piniella, two of Thurman’s closest friends, fought back tears as they delivered eulogies. One of the funeral attendees was New York Mets manager Joe Torre.

The Yankees had a game to play that evening, against the Baltimore Orioles, a nationally televised game for ABC’s Monday Night Baseball. Murcer hit a three-run HR off Dennis Martinez in the 7th and stroked a game-winning two-run single off Tippy Martinez in the 9th, enabling the Yankees to overcome a 4-0 deficit and win the game 5-4. In this video clip of Murcer’s game-winner, ABC’s Howard Cosell summed up the drama of the moment and the day in his unique and poetic way.

The walk-off win against the Orioles was thrilling and emotional for the players and the fans but the team was still 14 games behind the Orioles in the American League East. The Yankees went 29-21 in the final 50 games of the season, finishing with 89 wins, which placed the team in 4th place in the East, 13.5 games behind the division-winning O’s.

Cooperstown Doesn’t Call

Instead of the usual five year wait after a player’s career has ended, Thurman Munson appeared on the BBWAA ballot for the first time in December 1980. He earned 15.5% of the vote, far shy of the 75% needed for induction. For the next 14 years, Munson remained on the ballot, never once even cracking 10%. His final BBWAA ballot was in 1995.

In the early 2000’s, the Hall of Fame instituted a new Veterans Committee process that opened up the voting to all living Hall of Famers. In 2003, ’05, ’07 and ’09, not one player ever received the necessary 75% of the vote to gain induction into the Hall of Fame. Munson never came close. The best he did was in 2007 when 6 out of 84 Hall of Famers checked his name on their ballots. 22 other players received more votes.

Starting in 2011, the Hall abandoned the “all hands on deck approach” and went back to a committee system with smaller 10 or 12 man ballots. Until this year, in the three committee ballots in which Munson was theoretically eligible, he was not selected for consideration by the screening committees.

The Case for and against Thurman Munson for the Hall of Fame

Why has Thurman Munson gotten so little support for the Hall of Fame thusfar? Before going into the Hall of Fame case in favor of Thurman Munson, we need to understand why he’s never gotten close to Cooperstown. Munson’s Hall of Fame resume was clearly perceived as lacking by the vast majority of the writers who make up the BBWAA and by his peers when he was on the Veterans Committee ballots in the 2000’s.

While Munson’s first-year BBWAA vote percentage on the 1981 ballot was low (15.5%), it should be noted that Munson debuted on a star-studded first-year-eligible ballot that included Bob Gibson, Harmon Killebrew, Juan Marichal and Vada Pinson.

The rest of the ballot of returning candidates was also stacked with talent: future BBWAA inductees Don Drysdale, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Luis Aparicio were still taking up spaces on the writers’ 10-person ballots. Other strong candidates who would be eventually be inducted by the Veterans Committee (Nellie Fox, Red Schoendienst, Jim Bunning, Richie Ashburn, Orlando Cepeda and Bill Mazeroski) were still getting votes as well. The ballot also had five other big names who are still outside of the Hall: Gil Hodges, Maury Wills, Roger Maris, Harvey Kuenn and another former Yankees’ catcher, Elston Howard.

With all of this talent on the ballot, only Gibson was elected to the Hall (with 84%) while everyone else split the vote and finished at varying levels below 61%.

The 1982 ballot was even more jammed, with Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson eligible for the first time. Billy Williams and Tony Oliva were also on the ballot for the first time. On this even more crowded ballot, Munson’s support dropped from 15.5% to 6.3%. But this was not a situation unique to Thurman.

With the presence of Aaron and Robinson temporarily defining a higher standard of excellence, every single position player on the ballot except for Aparicio saw their voting support drop, sometimes significantly. Hodges dropped from 60% to 49%, Wills from 41% to 22%. Howard, the other ex-Yankees catcher on the ballot, dropped from 21% to 10%. Another highly respected catcher, 11-time All-Star Bill Freehan, debuted on the ballot and received a whopping 2 votes (0.5%). He would never appear on the ballot again.

As we’ve seen in recent balloting, backlogs ebb and flow. The backlog dissipated a bit in 1983, with Brooks Robinson by far the best newcomer candidate and a first-ballot inductee. The other first-timers of note were Joe Torre (5.3%) and Dick Allen (3.7%). Howard sagged to 8.6% while Munson fell to 4.8% (this was a few years before the Hall automatically dropped players from future ballots when they polled at under 5%). The process was a bit arbitrary. Munson remained on the 1984 ballot; Allen was dropped but brought back in 1985.

No Respect for Munson, Torre, Howard, Freehan and Allen

Dick Allen is a special case, one I’ll tackle in the future. But the short version of why Allen never got any Hall of Fame traction is because he was a power hitter who finished his career with 351 home runs one year after the inductions of Aaron (755) and Frank Robinson (586). Allen played third base and first base, as did Killebrew, also on the ballot with his 573 career taters. Nobody had heard of OPS+ in 1983.

Let’s briefly take a look at the career statistics for the four catchers who appeared on the 1982-83 ballots. I’m showing basic statistics only, the ones available to writers in the early 1980’s:

Player PA AVG HR RBI Hits OBP SLG ASG GG
Joe Torre 8802 .297 252 1185 2342 .365 .452 9 1
Bill Freehan 6900 .262 200 758 1591 .340 .412 11 5
Thurman Munson 5905 .292 113 701 1558 .346 .410 7 3
Elston Howard 5845 .274 167 762 1471 .322 .427 12 2
ASG = All-Star Games GG = Gold Gloves
Courtesy Baseball Reference
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Like Munson, Torre and Howard won MVP awards. Like Munson, Howard and Freehan had World Series rings. None of this quartet got within a whiff of Cooperstown (except of course for Torre, who was inducted as a manager in 2014).

If you look strictly at the numbers, Torre looks by far the best of the four. In fairness, though, he was a catcher for less than half of his career starts (836 starts behind the dish compared to a combined 1,206 at the corners).

Who were the Hall of Fame Catchers in 1983?

It’s plain by the history of Hall of Fame voting by the BBWAA that the writers didn’t really know what to do with catchers. As of the 1983 ballot, only nine backstops had been enshrined in Cooperstown, with only five having been inducted by the writers in 48 calendar years of Hall of Fame voting. The five BBWAA inductees were Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Gabby Hartnett, Roy Campanella and Yogi Berra.

At a time where people cared far more about batting average than on-base or slugging percentages, Cochrane was a career .320 hitter who won two MVPs. Dickey hit .313 and won seven World Championships with the Yankees.

Hartnett hit nearly .300 (.297), won a MVP and had a longer career with more HR and RBI than Munson, Howard or Freehan. Even in an era before quality defensive numbers, Hartnett was regarded as a defensive whiz. His plaque in Cooperstown touts numbers like “chances without error,” “highest fielding average,” and “most putouts.”

Campanella’s career, like Munson’s, was cut short. Thankfully, the car accident that Campy was in did not kill him but it did paralyze him from the chest down, ending his playing career at the age of 35. In his 10-year career, Campy won three MVPs; he also hit 242 home runs in just 4,815 plate appearances. Berra, of course, was an all-time great who won three MVPs of his own to go with 358 taters and a whopping ten World Series titles.

The Golden Age of Catchers

Making the prospects even more dim for the four backstops who were considered on the 1982-83 ballots was that the 1970’s and early 1980’s were the “golden age” for catchers. 1983 was the last year for Johnny Bench. Carlton Fisk, at 35, was still performing at a high level. Gary Carter was an emerging star. And Ted Simmons was winding down a highly productive career.

Take a look at Thurman Munson’s numbers compared to the other four, with statistics through the 1983 season only.

Through 1983 PA AVG HR RBI Hits OBP SLG ASG GG
Johnny Bench 8674 .267 389 1376 2048 .342 .476 14 10
Ted Simmons 8094 .292 222 1195 2116 .355 .453 8 0
Thurman Munson 5905 .292 113 701 1558 .346 .410 7 3
Carlton Fisk 5828 .282 209 764 1454 .354 .469 9 1
Gary Carter 5025 .269 188 688 1190 .342 .457 6 3
Courtesy Baseball Reference
WP Table Builder

As we can plainly see, Bench was the new gold standard. And, in the key statistical category of home runs, the 35-year old Fisk, 34-year old Simmons and 29-year old Carter had already far surpassed Munson’s total. As each year beyond 1983 passed, Fisk and Carter kept building their resumes, each year making Thurman’s accomplishments look smaller.

What the Writers Missed: the Hall of Fame Case for Thurman Munson

There are a few angles one can pursue when crafting an argument for Thurman Munson for the Hall of Fame. The first is an argument that blends Munson’s offensive skills with his defensive ability. Other than the awarding of Gold Gloves, there was very little relevant data about a player’s defensive ability during the 15 years that Munson was on the BWAA ballot.

Today, the offense-defense argument can be made with both caught stealing stats and with the modern metric Wins Above Replacement, which is designed to show the totality of a player’s skill in hitting, defense and base running. We can show that Munson is right on the border line of catchers, below the line with respect to most of the backstops inducted by the BBWAA but above the line of those inducted by previous Veterans Committees.

An argument for Munson for the Hall must acknowledge that postseason performance is not just a “bonus” to a player’s resume but can be a central plank if that player has enough opportunities to shine in October baseball. A player can’t make the Hall based on just one or two big moments (think Kirk Gibson) but a player who consistently performs at a high level in the playoffs has an enormous value and important place in the history of the game.

What Might Have Been

Finally, there is the question of “what might have been.” This is a tricky one. Putting a player into the Hall of Fame by giving him credit for something he did not actually do is an argument that should rarely be used. Sabermetric pioneer Bill James tackled this topic in his landmark book Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame?

Players in most cases have to be evaluated by what they actually did, not by what they would have done or might have done. I’ll make an allowance for certain types of career gaps–military service, players in mid-career before the color line was broken, and perhaps one or two other things. Munson’s situation is an injury, an extreme injury, but an injury. There are dozens of players who would have had Hall of Fame careers if they hadn’t been hurt….. Munson was pretty much through, as a player, anyway. At the time of his death he already had the knee and back injuries which end the careers of most catchers. 

— Bill James, Whatever Happened to the Hall of Fame? (1995)

The last part of what James wrote is critical, that Munson was near the end of his playing career anyway. I’ll get back to the question about whether Munson was “done” near the end of this piece but let me first tackle the question of whether it’s appropriate at all to credit a player for time lost due to an untimely death. The first two “exceptions” (military service and the color line) are widely accepted as legitimate reasons to “fill in the gaps” of a Cooperstown resume because they impacted a significant number of players.

I would consider a player’s death while still playing as something that deserves consideration in cases where that player had already built most of his Hall of Fame credentials and merely needed a few more years to pad some of his counting stats. Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez looked like a Hall of Famer in the making when he tragically died in a boating accident but he was only 24 years old at the time. Obviously, we can’t extrapolate an entire career for him.

In the case of Munson, pretty much all of what what makes him a Hall of Fame candidate had already occurred.

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Thurman Munson Compared to other Hall of Fame Catchers

One of the things that makes Munson a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate is that he was both a force offensively and also a top-flight defensive catcher. Munson’s all-around game gives him (on Baseball Reference) a career WAR of 46.1, which is superior to four Cooperstown inducted backstops (Roger Bresnahan, Roy Campanella, Rick Ferrell and Ray Schalk) and very close to three others (Cochrane, Ernie Lombardi and Buck Ewing).

Using Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system (which combines career WAR with a player’s 7 best seasons), Munson is rated the 12th best catcher in MLB history, behind 9 Hall of Famers, Ted Simmons and Joe Mauer and ahead of six enshrined catchers (the previous four plus Ewing and Lombardi).

In the chart below, I’ve included basic offensive numbers plus WAR, OPS+ and the defensive component of WAR (dWAR). If you’re not familiar with some of these terms, you can see the Glossary. This chart includes the 2nd tier of Hall of Fame catchers plus Thurman Munson:

Thurman Munson vs Selected Hall of Fame Catchers
Player WAR dWAR PA Hits HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS+
Mickey Cochrane 48.5 0.7 6208 1652 119 830 .320 .419 .478 129
Buck Ewing 48.0 9.7 5772 1625 71 883 .303 .351 .456 129
Ernie Lombardi 46.8 3.8 6352 1792 190 990 .306 .358 .460 126
Thurman Munson 46.1 11.9 5905 1558 113 701 .292 .346 .410 116
Roger Bresnahan 42.5 6.5 5376 1252 26 530 .279 .386 .377 126
Roy Campanella 37.0 8.5 4815 1161 242 856 .276 .360 .500 123
Rick Ferrell 33.7 9.4 7076 1692 28 734 .281 .378 .363 95
Ray Schalk 33.2 18.3 6240 1345 11 593 .253 .340 .316 93
Courtesy Baseball Reference
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Of the 8 men listed here, Munson is 4th in WAR, 2nd in dWAR, 5th in hits, 4th in HR, 6th in RBI, 4th in BA, 7th in OBP, 5th in SLG and 6th in OPS+. Essentially, because of his defensive prowess, he’s in the middle of the pack of the 2nd tier of Hall of Fame backstops.

Thurman Munson in the Postseason

What sets Munson apart from most of the other Hall of Fame backstops (and all catchers in general) is his prolific performance in postseason baseball. Here we will compare him to all Cooperstown enshrined catchers, using World Series statistics only to level the playing field.

Munson and Hall of Fame catchers in the World Series
World Series Stats PA HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS Rings
Yogi Berra 256 10 27 .263 .340 .439 .778 10
Bill Dickey 161 5 24 .255 .329 .379 .709 7
Roy Campanella 130 4 12 .237 .310 .386 .696 1
Mickey Cochrane 137 2 7 .245 .385 .336 .722 3
Johnny Bench 94 5 14 .279 .340 .523 .864 2
Thurman Munson 72 1 12 .373 .417 .493 .909 2
Ray Schalk 49 0 2 .286 .388 .286 .673 1
Gabby Hartnett 53 2 3 .255 .269 .451 .720 0
Ivan Rodriguez 43 0 2 .220 .233 .293 .525 1
Carlton Fisk 32 2 4 .240 .406 .480 .886 0
Gary Carter 30 2 9 .276 .267 .552 .818 1
Ernie Lombardi 18 0 2 .235 .278 .294 .572 1
Roger Bresnahan 22 0 1 .313 .500 .438 .938 1
Mike Piazza 17 2 4 .294 .294 .765 1.059 0
Courtesy Baseball Reference
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Munson’s OPS (.909) in World Series play is third on this list behind only Mike Piazza and Roger Bresnahan, both of whom had vastly fewer plate appearances.

Munson’s Defensive Performance in Postseason Play

Thanks to the research by a website (munsonhof.com) touting Thurman Munson for the Hall of Fame, we can see the postseason excellence of the Yankees’ catcher beyond his overall .357 postseason batting average and 22 RBI in 30 games.

From the site’s research, counting all postseason opportunities (the ALCS and World Series), Munson threw out 44.4% of all runners attempting to steal (24 for 54).

Postseason Catchers Games SB Att. CS CS% CS/Gm SB Att per Gm
Jorge Posada 124 92 33 35.9% 0.27 0.74
Thurman Munson 30 54 24 44.4% 0.80 1.80
Wally Schang 32 42 21 50.0% 0.66 1.31
Johnny Kling 19 39 19 48.7% 1.00 2.05
Javy Lopez 60 46 15 32.6% 0.25 0.77
*Yogi Berra 73 37 14 37.8% 0.19 0.51
Chief Meyers 18 25 4 56.0% 0.78 1.39
Boss Schmidt 13 49 14 28.6% 1.08 3.77
*Johnny Bench 45 19 13 68.4% 0.29 0.42
*Ray Schalk 14 23 12 52.2% 0.86 1.64
*Hall of Fame
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What the website’s author notes in particular is that Munson was gunning down would be base-stealers from some of the most prolific running teams of all time. Baseball Reference has mostly complete stolen base and caught stealing statistics going back to 1925. Since that date, the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, the ’76 Kansas City Royals, and the ’78 Royals were three of the 21 most prolific base stealing teams in 94 years.

From 1976-78, Whitey Herzog‘s running Royals stole 604 bases in 881 attempts (a 68.6% success rate). In the three ALCS matchups between the Royals and Yankees, Munson threw out 12 out of 28 Royals (a 57.1% success rate or, from the catcher’s perspective, a 42.9% caught stealing rate).

Led by Joe Morgan (with 60 steals on 69 attempts), the ’76 Reds (the Yankees’ World Series opponent) succeeded on 210 out of 267 attempts in the regular season (for a superb 78.7% rate of success). The Reds only succeeded in 7 out of 11 attempts against Munson (63.6%).

Postseason Performance: Combining Offense and Defense

As I mentioned earlier, the best Cooperstown case for Thurman Munson requires one to give great credit to postseason play. There were two other charts on the Munson Hall of Fame website that I found interesting.

The author researched and combined the totals of postseason RBI and runners thrown out for Munson and all Hall of Fame catchers. The term “Quality Points” (adding RBI and CS) was created to show how prolific players were in terms of driving in runs and gunning down potential runs. It’s a bit more of an apples/oranges statistic than OPS (combining on-base% and slugging%) but it clearly shows how Munson stands out in postseason play compared to the already Cooperstown enshrined backstops.

Thurman Munson Postseason compared to HOF Catchers
Player AVG OPS Games RBI CS *QP RBI per Game CS per Game *QP per Game
Thurman Munson .357 .874 30 22 24 46 0.73 0.80 1.53
Gary Carter .280 .786 30 21 9 30 0.70 0.30 1.00
Ray Schalk .286 .673 14 2 12 14 0.14 0.86 1.00
Bill Dickey .255 .709 38 24 11 35 0.63 0.29 0.92
Ivan Rodriguez .255 .706 40 25 9 34 0.63 0.23 0.85
Mike Piazza .242 .759 32 15 9 24 0.47 0.28 0.75
Johnny Bench .266 .862 45 20 13 33 0.44 0.29 0.73
Roy Campanella .237 .696 32 12 11 23 0.38 0.34 0.72
Yogi Berra .274 .811 75 39 14 53 0.52 0.19 0.71
Roger Bresnahan .313 .938 5 1 2 3 0.20 0.40 0.60
Carlton Fisk .259 .762 14 6 2 8 0.43 0.14 0.57
Mickey Cochrane .245 .722 31 7 10 17 0.23 0.32 0.55
Gabby Hartnett .241 .680 16 3 5 8 0.19 0.31 0.50
Ernie Lombardi .235 .610 6 2 0 2 0.33 0.00 0.33
*QP = Quality Points (RBI + CS)
www.munsonhof.com
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First of all, allow me to be point out that “Quality Points” is a completely contrived statistic, adding together two fundamentally different things. It’s not meant to have any significance beyond measuring what actually happened in postseason games in two statistical categories unique to catchers. It’s meant to show simply that Munson plated more runners and erased more runners from the bases at a greater rate than any Hall of Fame backstop.

The authors, thorough their research, also took a look at the RBI and CS for other notable catchers who had a significant number of postseason games played.

Thurman Munson Postseason compared to noteworthy Catchers
Postseason AVG Games RBI CS *QP Hits per Game RBI per Game CS per Game *QP per Game
Thurman Munson .357 30 22 24 46 1.53 0.73 0.80 1.53
Avg HOF Catcher .263 29.1 13.6 8.2 21.8 0.92 0.47 0.28 0.75
Jorge Posada .248 125 42 33 75 0.82 0.34 0.26 0.60
Yadier Molina .273 98 34 13 47 0.97 0.35 0.12 0.48
Javy Lopez .278 60 28 15 43 0.95 0.47 0.25 0.72
Elston Howard .246 54 19 3 22 0.78 0.35 0.06 0.41
Buster Posey .248 53 23 7 30 0.96 0.43 0.13 0.57
Wally Schang .287 32 9 21 30 0.84 0.28 0.07 0.94
Ted Simmons .186 17 8 7 15 0.65 0.47 0.41 0.88
*QP = Quality Points (RBI + CS)
www.munsonhof.com
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Thurman Munson and the Running Game

As we saw in the previous section, Munson had a considerable amount of success throwing out base-runners in postseason baseball. That ability, however, was merely an extension of his general throwing ability. Comparing caught stealing rates across eras is problematic because, as time and has progressed and analytics have taken root, teams have understood the importance of maintaining a minimum 75% success rate on stolen base attempts.

Two examples. The Chicago Cubs’ Gabby Hartnett is one of the greatest throwing catchers of all-time, having gunned down a remarkable 62% of all would be base stealers. The MLB average for caught stealing for catchers during Hartnett’s career (1925-1941) was 45%.

By comparison, one of the best catchers from the past few decades is Ivan Rodriguez. I-Rod threw out 46% of all would-be base thieves. During Rodriguez’ years donning the tools of ignorance (1991-2011), that 46% success rate far surpassed the MLB average of 30%. Do you see the point. I-Rod’s 46% would have been barely above average had he played from 1925-41.

Thus, what I’m going to do here is compare Munson to his peers from the late 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s, catchers of note with a significant number of games played.

This chart will show the number of runners who successfully stole a base against these catchers, the number who were caught stealing and the percentage of runners who attempted to steal against each backstop in stolen base opportunities.

The “SB Att Rate%” is significant. The lower the percentage of stolen bases attempted against any backstop indicates the degree to which each catcher “shut down the running” game by reputation alone.

SB Attempt Rate% = The % of times runners attempted to steal out of the # of opportunities

Catcher success in throwing out runner and stopping SB attempts
Min 1,200 Games Gms as Catcher SB Attempt Rate% SB CS CS% MLB Avg CS%
Johnny Bench 1742 4.8% 610 469 43% 35%
Thurman Munson 1278 5.6% 533 428 45% 36%
Bill Freehan 1581 5.6% 741 433 37% 37%
Jerry Grote 1348 5.6% 579 351 38% 36%
Bob Boone 2225 6.4% 1107 732 40% 34%
Rick Dempsey 1633 6.7% 770 507 40% 34%
Steve Yeager 1230 6.7% 595 364 38% 34%
Carlton Fisk 2226 6.8% 1302 663 34% 34%
Jim Sundberg 1927 6.9% 1012 707 41% 33%
Lance Parrish 1818 7.1% 1043 655 39% 33%
Darrell Porter 1506 7.3% 900 553 38% 34%
Ted Simmons 1771 7.6% 1188 611 34% 34%
Gary Carter 2056 8.9% 1498 810 35% 33%
Courtesy Baseball Reference
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As you can plainly see, among his contemporaries or near-contemporaries, Thurman Munson had the highest percentage of runners caught stealing. In addition, only the great Johnny Bench had a lower percentage of SB attempts against him than Munson did.

Munson’s superiority on this chart over Ted Simmons is not surprising (Simmons did not have a good reputation as a defensive catcher) but Gary Carter on the bottom of this list is eye-opening. I dug deeper into this and, in fact, Carter threw out 42% of all base-runners from 1974 to 1983 but only 28% in the years since.

What does this all mean? It means that Thurman Munson was better than all of his peers save for Bench when it came to shutting down the running game.

Summing Up the Case by WAR

When it comes to the Hall of Fame case for Thurman Munson, going strictly by regular season numbers (both traditional and sabermetric), he is very much a borderline candidate.

To recap, using the all-encompassing WAR (Wins Above Replacement), Munson’s 46.1 is 16th all-time, in front of 4 Hall of Fame catchers. Using “peak WAR” (a player’s best 7 seasons), Munson is 8th best, ahead of 8 Cooperstown-enshrined backstops and behind only 6. Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system (which combines both) puts Munson in 12th place, still ahead of 6 Hall of Famers.

His untimely death leaves him short of the career WAR and JAWS standards, but, even so, he’s 14th in the former and ranks 8th in peak… As short-career guys go, that’s Hall-worthy.

— Jay Jaffe, The Cooperstown Casebook (2017)

When a player’s WAR puts him in the borderline case, I always look at other factors. Clearly, Munson’s 113 HR, 1,558 Hits and 701 RBI leave him a bit lacking but his 116 OPS+ is strong for a catcher, especially for one with the defensive and postseason credentials that Munson has.

Was Thurman Munson Finished as a Player on the Day he Died?

So, I’m going to ask again, how much could Munson have added to his career totals if he had lived? Could he have surpassed 50 WAR, which would put him in the top 10 for catchers in the game’s history?

The answer is uncertain. Munson was clearly playing in pain when he passed away and one has to wonder how much longer he could have played. In 1978, as we’ve noted, he was briefly moved to right field because of the pain in his knees. The pain sapped his power, limiting him to 6 home runs.

In 1979, Munson kept catching (he was still better than anyone else on the team) but the pain in his legs was hurting him at the plate. Billy Martin explained it this way to George Steinbrenner:

“Don’t you understand, George, his legs are killing him. He can’t push off his legs to hit. The guy shouldn’t even be playing right now… He shouldn’t be playing, but we don’t have anyone else.”

— Billy Martin (to George Steinbrenner), Number One (Billy Martin and Peter Golenbock, 1980)

As we also noted earlier, Munson’s final four starts in 1979 were at first base (three games) and at DH. In the final game of his career, on August 1st at Comiskey Park in Chicago, he started at first base and was hitting third in the order.

He worked a base on balls in the first inning, lumbering down the line etched in pain. He looked weary that game. Slow. Beaten. Years of 140 games and reckless dedication had come back to taunt him. Reggie Jackson followed to the plate and eased Thurman’s journey by slugging a home run.

It was 9:15 PM in Chicago when number 15 stepped up for one more at bat in the third inning. His aching limbs restricted every move. When he twisted his knee on the third strike, there was no muscle that could push further. He reached the gray concrete shelter of the dugout and shook his head, looking Billy Martin in the eye. “Skip, I’m done. Can’t go anymore.” According to some, it was the first time he had ever taken himself out of a baseball game.

— Christopher Devine, Thurman Munson: a Baseball Biography (2001)

Devine, in this book, was clearly insinuating that Thurman Munson’s career as a player might have ended one night before the end of his life.

Obviously, there’s no way to know this. Perhaps, had he lived, Munson would have gone onto the disabled list for the first time of his career. Perhaps he would have missed the rest of the season. What would have happened next? Would Munson finally have gotten his wish and been traded to the Cleveland Indians so that he could play close to home?

Would the Indians franchise, with former Yankees’ GM Gabe Paul as its president, have been happy to trade for the aging catcher, giving the fans of a perpetually bad team a legitimate star and hometown hero to root for? Would the Indians have been happy to accept sub-par production from that star player from nearby Canton?

Of course there’s no way to know. But here’s something I do know. Even as a shell of his former All-Star self and in spite of missing the final 55 games of the season due to his untimely passing, Thurman Munson was still 6th in the American League in WAR (2.4) for catchers in 1979. Obviously, WAR didn’t exist in 1979 but batting average did and Thurman’s .288 was 4th among A.L. backstops with at least 200 plate appearances.

Conclusion

Considering that the players of the 2nd half of the 20th century are woefully unrepresented in the Hall of Fame compared to players from the 1st half, I believe that Thurman Munson deserves a plaque in Cooperstown. When you combine the accolades (Rookie of the Year, MVP, 2 rings) with his career WAR (which gives him credit for his superior defensive work), that’s a Hall of Famer to me. If you’re borderline by the numbers but you have a postseason resume like Munson does, that’s worthy of a plaque.

Having said that, Munson is one of a great many players from the 1970’s and ’80’s who is worthy of the Hall. There are eight other players on the Modern Baseball ballot. All have legitimate arguments for a Cooperstown plaque.

Thurman Munson and Ted Simmons

The first name that comes to mind is Ted Simmons, another catcher. Simmons, who played mostly in obscurity in St. Louis while Munson, Fisk and Bench shined in October baseball, was a terrific hitting catcher. Simmons doesn’t have the postseason heroics that Munson had and he was not the same quality catcher behind the plate but the hitting resume is vastly superior. 125 more home runs, 914 more hits and 688 RBI are significant.

Simmons turned 70 in August. He was on the 2018 Modern Baseball ballot and got 11 votes, painfully one vote shy of a Cooperstown call. I’d be happy to see both Simmons and Munson in the Hall but it’s hard to see it happening for both on one Eras Committee ballot. The 16 members of the Modern Baseball committee are allowed to vote for only 4 out of the 10 candidates. How many will vote for both catchers? How much weight will the voters give to the fact that Simmons missed by one vote two years ago? How much consideration will be given to the fact that this year is the 40th anniversary of Munson’s death? Will they split the vote, causing neither to get the 12 votes needed? We’ll know the answer to these questions when the results are revealed on Sunday, December 8th.

Right now, the backlog of quality players from the ’70’s and ’80’s who are worthy of Cooperstown consideration is long. If it’s not this year I believe there will come a time in the future that Munson will be elected to the Hall of Fame. If the Hall is about “fame,” Munson certainly had it. In any telling of the story of ’70’s baseball, Thurman Munson’s name must always be front and center.

What can I tell you about Thurman Munson, other that I loved him like a brother? No teammate of mine ever played with more enthusiasm or joy… Even when the game was on the line, Munson would always try to make light of the situation, no matter how critical. That’s what made him so special. 

— Goose Gossage, The Goose is Loose (2000)

Thanks for reading. Please follow Cooperstown Cred on Twitter @cooperstowncred.

Chris Bodig

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45 thoughts on “Does Thurman Munson Deserve Another Hall of Fame Chance?”

  1. Great article. With the 40th anniversary of Thurman’s passing, (I still remember where I was when I heard the news). I relooked at his stats on Baseball-Reference.com. Despite being a New Yorker, and being an avid baseball fan (my mid teens) when he died, I had never thought of him as a Hall of Famer. But as you said in the article, his WAR7, puts him in a tie for 8th place. Personally, I put a lot of stock in WAR7. The padding the counting stats parts of a career doesn’t mean much to me, especially for catchers. I think Thurman belongs. Hopefully one day, soon, he will get in the Hall.

  2. How about this fact: Munson played in the Yankee Stadium “Death Valley Years.” It was 430 feet to left center field. I remember Fisk and Rice (righty power hitters) crying about this fact to the New York media, when their 415 foot “shots” would land short of the warning track. I wonder how many extra base hits and home runs the right-hand hitting Thurman was robbed of. Oh, and a few years before the Stadium remodel, the old Yankee Stadium dimensions were even farther out.

    1. You make a good point, John. Munson hit 42 career home runs at home, with 71 on the road. That includes two years at Shea Stadium, hardly a hitter’s paradise.

    2. Better then fisk. He is in. Great clutch hitter and team leader would give up an at bat to advance a runner. Great receiever made many pitchers average to above average, example figueora

  3. Terrific article and right on the mark! I try to be objective about Munson. He was my favorite player and at 54 years of age I still wear his number 15 on the softball field because Munson played the game right. He hustled, played to win and inspired both fans and teammates alike even 4 decades after his tragic death. Really, isn’t this the essence of the Hall of Fame? I think it is. Again, you have presented as wonderful a case as can be presented on his behalf. Bottom line is he epitomized what a baseball player and Hall of Famer is. I hope the Veterans Committee realizes this sooner, rather than later. Thank you for a thorough and convincing argument on his behalf.

    1. Thanks for the kind words John. I’m about your age (52 years old) and felt like I was watching a Hall of Famer when he was on my TV screen.

  4. Munson was also part of another “under represented” group the 76-80 Yankees “Dynasty”. (4 WS appearance and 2 WS wins) compared to their contemporary “dynasties” the swingin A’s and the Big Red Machine. The Yankees of that era are represented by only 3 players, Jackson, Hunter and Gossage. Jackson and Hunter were both members of the A’s and Gossage was with the Yanks over only half that period. Yankee mainstays like Randolph, Nettles, Guidry, Lyle, Rivers and Munson never got serious Hall consideration. Though a case could be made for several of them.

    1. Thanks for commenting Arthur.
      Agreed that the late 70’s Yankees dynasty is under-represented in the Hall. Obviously, Hunter is not in Cooperstown because of what he did in New York. Stay tuned about Nettles. It’s his 75th birthday in a couple of weeks. Time permitting, I may write a piece about him too.

  5. Chris really nice article on THURMAN and its great that you believe in him as a HALL of FAME player!
    I would like to note however that what you call a “middling ” year in 1972, THURMAN led all A.L. catchers in hits with 143, he caught 130 COMPLETE games!! He had an OPS+ of 114 and he had a WAR score of 3+.
    Thanks Chris
    Tom Tunison vice chair of the THURMAN MUNSON HALL of FAME COMMITTEE.

    1. Thanks Tom. I guess one would call 1972 a “middling” year by the standard he had set in 1970 and what he would do in the years following. Good luck!

  6. I was a small child in NYC at the time of Munson’s passing, and although I knew the name Reggie Jackson better, you can bet I’d heard of Thurman.

    Slightly off topic, but if they’re not letting in Thurman… as far as the comparative catchers in the HOF, I hadn’t heard of Roger Bresnahan, and checking his page out at bbref, even allowing for his playing during the dead ball era, I was at a loss trying to figure out how he made it into the Hall. Besides one outlier (hitting .350 in 1903,) he looks like a perfectly average hitter, and while he caught a good number of attempted steals, it was a totally different era, when steals were MUCH more common. Any clues?

    1. There’s no doubt that Schalk and Bresnahan make up the bottom two backstops in the Hall. Schalk was a great defensive catcher but couldn’t hit a lick. He had a reputation as a “clean” member of the 1919 Black Sox which helped him. He was a Veterans Committee pick in 1955.
      Bresnahan was an “Old-Timers Committee” pick in 1945, a year when that OTC inducted 9 players (mostly from the 19th century). Bresnahan played in the early 20th and was a pretty good hitter for the dead ball era; he walked a lot (714 times), leading to a .386 OBP, which partially off-sets just getting 1,252 hits. Without the equipment that we take for granted today catchers got the piss beat out of them in the early years of baseball so nobody was able to accumulate big “counting” stats. Something I learned from Bill James’ Historical Abstract: in 1908 Bresnahan introduced shin guards and a padded mask as new injury-reducing items for backstops.

  7. I grew up in the sixties as a Mets fan but we always looked at the Yankees as our big brother, and so I rooted for the Yankees as well. Thurman was my favorite. Nobody played with more heart and determination. He was the exemplification of how the game should be played, and without the burden of having to catch, I believe he still had several good to great years as a DH. Harold Baines is in the hall. Munson, Mattingly, Gil Hodges. They all belong there too

  8. As alluded to above, I still say Munson’s shockingly low HOF vote percentage is reflective of the fact that he was a player worshiped by his teammates, and absolutely loathed by baseball writers.

    1. You are a 100% correct! Bottom line if fisk is in . munson has to go in, fisk never won mvp, world series, he just played a long time and built up numbers, munson would have easily had over 2000 hits 1000 rbi s.

  9. Chris,

    I remember the first time Thurman entered a Yankee game, late in a game toward the end of the 1969 season. I was 10 years old at the time. His “quick release” had the ball to second base when the runner had only gotten about half way to second. When you were a kid growing up with those second-half of the 1960s Yankee teams, whoever this was who threw that runner out was what hope looked like. As you noted, he was AL ROY the next year. Munson and Murcer showed us what hope felt like.

    The defensive attributes were there, although there were some rough years when he mostly threw screwballs to second base, but it was never the physical stuff that made him a great defensive player, it was his smarts and his toughness. My favorite Munson play was when he would call a high inside fastball to a right handed batter when there was a runner taking a big lead off 3rd base. The pitch would knock down the batsman, and Thurman would then have a clear shot at rifling a throw to the 3rd baseman, picking the runner off third. Not sure I have seen any other catcher do that. Munson did it many times.

    Thurman Munson was smart, fearlessly confident, and tough as nails — the way Derek Jeter was in all those regards as well. Arguably, they were the highest IQ players of their respective eras.

    Interesting that you compare Munson to Torre, because some used to say that he and Torre had similar hitting skills in that they both used the whole field in their approach to hitting (Torre hit .363 to win a batting title in 1971).

    There’s a great voice recording of MLB’s 1976 WS highlights reel where Sparky Anderson comes to the mound to change pitchers late in the deciding game of the 1976 WS. Sparky, Bench, and Rose (who played 3rd base that year) all came to the mound to await the relief pitcher’s arrival — all hall-of-famers, as we know — and Sparky (who dissed Munson relative to Bench during the series) commented to the other two “Boy, that Munson sure can hit!” to which they all voiced their agreement. Bench was the 1976 WS MVP, batting .533, deservedly winning the award. Munson hit .529 in the 1976 WS, after having been the 1976 AL MVP. As you noted, Munson had s superior BA to Bench in the post season for his career; it s a good comparison point, as Bench was in 4 WS, Munson was in 3 WS.

    Thurman Munson was the most important player on the New York Yankees for 10 years, on some pretty special teams, not just 1976-1978. Meaning, he created a winning culture on those teams over the course of a decade. Munson had three 100 RBI years in a row (1975-1977), as you noted.

    Most importantly, Thurman Munson was the heart and soul of those teams. They never won another WS after his passing. Every player who played with him feels this way about him. Every Yankee fan of that time does too.

    Its not just because he died tragically, it’s what he meant to us while he was here that is the reason that he is still revered to this day. That’s immortality. That’s good enough.

  10. Even if Munson didn’t play for the rest of 79, his contract was for two more years. And the Yankees mad the post season both of those years and you have to figure he would have been in the middle of that even if he was DH a lot. Two more years of his average numbers and more post season heroics would have gotten him in almost for sure. especially if they would have won it all in 81. in my mind the only thing working against him is the number of years he played. Who knows, maybe three Yankee captains will go in together next summer? Munson Mattingly and Jeter.

  11. I had a look at the 2020 Veterans Ballot.

    Two names really stick out to me–Sweet Lou Whitaker and Thurman Munson.

    First, this is a really well written and well argued piece of analysis.

    Second, I agree.

    Thurmon Munson, the Yankees’ captain during their amazing 1976-78 run, is to my mind, the greatest player today not in the HOF.

    And I realize Sweet Lou has the better numbers, WAR, etc.

    But Munson is better on all the peripherals–defense, captaincy, postseason play, winning two World Series in a row, cutting those runners down in the post-season, leading by example–all of it.

    He got tons of RBIs without hitting homers–and let us remember how deep it was to LCF when he played in Yankees Stadium. If he had played in today’s baseball, in today’s parks, he would have hit many more homers.

    So I love Ted Simmons, I love Sweet Lou, but my vote would go to Thurman Munson–the Captain.

    Art K
    Philly

    1. Following the discussions around the internet and TV shows since the Modern Baseball Committee ballot was announced, the buzz is all about Munson and Whitaker. These are the guys that the commentators seem to think are the most worthy cases on the ballot.

  12. Mattingly the best first baseman in baseball in 80 s offensive and defensive hands down!! Munson better then fisk 7 time all star in 10 years. Clutch clutch and clutch a true leader and a great receiever.

  13. If Munson was playing in this era of a pitcher can’t pitch inside,juiced ball add 20 points to his batting average.HALL OF FAMER ,WITHOUT ANY QUESTION. CATCHERS shouldn’t be compared with every other player because their careers are shorter.Compare catchers with catchers.Outfielders with outfielders.Firstbaseman with firstbaseman and so on.While we are at it can someone explain how Whitey Herzog makes the hall and Billy Martin who was on the same ballot not? Martin was a better manager.Also I feel,that players should vote for the hall,not sportswriters. I mean do former players vote for wriers when they’re up for the writers hall of fame? Writers don’t know what it’s like playing hurt

  14. Billy also out mangered weaver as well. His winni g percentage is in the top 10 and he had to build winners. La russa interview sums it up best. Billy was the best. You always learned something every time you faced him. Billy had his issues alcholism and the biggest issue, tge press which he had no tolerence for and he pays for it every election but the truth is the players should vote and they kbow he was the best of his time. The writer s hold grudges!!

    1. Anthony, Thank You for agreeing with me that BILLY should be in ,and MORE important that the writers shouldn’t vote but the players of that nominee’s era should

  15. Add in one other factor. The Yankees played on natural grass. What happened to the NL All-Stars who hit .300+, were always on base and then came to the American League and/or Yankee Stadium where those ‘rockets’ thru the infield became ground outs, double plays and no one on for the sluggers. Bench, for example, would have been a .250 hitter, with 75 fewer homers and probably a couple of hundred fewer RBI’s with all those stars off the bases.

    See Dave Collins, Ken Griffer Sr., Dave Collins, Omar Moreno, and the list goes on and on. Ted Simmons would have had a 265 lifetime average with 150 homers and no post season.

    Yankee Stadium a difficult place to play and Munson excelled. A joke he’s not in and Simmons, who was a good player, is.

  16. Agreed
    Simmons was a compiler
    Never got many votes for mvp as far as I know. Now that he’s in, makes case for Munson stronger as he is only one of those seventies guys not in
    Gotta wait a few more years for another chance I guess. Yount, Ozzie and Jocketty probably helped Simmons chances.

  17. An absolutely fantastic exposition, and I’m not a Munson fan nor a Yankee fan. Another qualitative tangible that makes Munson a HoF must is that he was an excellent teammate, much unlike Reggie and another snubbed HoF candidate, Richie Allen. Bill James claims that comparing a potential HoFer to a player already in the Hall isn’t the best manner in which to evaluate one’s worth, yet Munson is a worthier candidate than Ted Simmons and it really isn’t close. Again, a terrific article; very well researched and compiled with noteworthy depth of analysis.

  18. “Munson is a worthier candidate than Ted Simmons and it really isn’t close.” Oh, bullsh_t. Get over the New York hype, and get over yourself. Munson, to his credit, had about 90% of the career value of Simmons. Munson’s four best campaigns were slightly better than Simmon’s four best. Simmons was more consistent and more durable and overall had more good years.

    If the basic argument is, “There’s a HOF standard that Munson and Simmons both meet,” then fine.

    If the basic argument is, “There’s a HOF standard that Simmons just meets but Munson doesn’t,” that’s also fine. Tough for Yankee fans to swallow, but plausible.

    If the basic argument is, “There’s HOF standard that Munson meets but Simmons doesn’t,” then no, sorry. That doesn’t hold water. 30 seconds on Baseball Reference will disabuse any reasonable fan of that notion. Base stealing just isn’t that important, people. It took us about 130 years to get there, but we’re there. Simmon’s offense outweighs Munson’s defense, and that’s all there is to it.

    If the basic argument is, “Munson was much better than Fisk!” then we know you’re a butt-hurt New York moron.

    The need for Yankee fans to blow smoke up their own asses–because somehow rooting for the most successful team isn’t enough for them–never ceases to amaze me.

    “I’m not a Munson fan nor a Yankee fan.” I think what you meant was, “I’m not honest enough to admit I’m biased in Munson’s and the Yankees’ favor.”

    1. Take Fisk 9 years that Munson played in and judge for yourself.As for Simmons , like Fisk I agree that they both belong in the hall BUT so does Munson.And as I stated before why isn’t Billy Martin in the Hall.And while we are at it, if NUMBERS put you in the HALL,why isn’t Albert Bell not in ,10 years in a row 100 rbi’s.I 100% feel that if the sportswriters didn’t vote
      but players of the players era did a lot of why isn’t would be answered.Gil Hodges another one.Let the players vote for the writers hall of fame,and we’ll really have something to read about.Simmons 9 years that Munson played in,and Thurm’s there.

  19. Would love to see Thurman in the ‘Hall… his grit, determination, and intensity, as well as his ability to rise to the occasion, are intangible things that I’ll never forget… had he another 5+ years to pad his legacy (and stats) we don’t have this conversation. He was a 1970s Baseball Icon and a huge part of 2 World Championship teams whose life was tragically cut short…. that’s good enough for me.

  20. Big yankee fan in the 70’s no more, became an Astro fan in 1980. Loved their uniforms and 1st play-off appearance, wom be over. But I must say, Munson meet the eligibility requirements of 10 years. Though he was in decline, if not for his untimely passing, he would have hit 290, 65 rbis and 7 hrs on the Ave year.. He would have most likely got in,now only hope is through veterans committe, tough call for the hall.

  21. SOMETHING TO PONDER
    MLB HAS BEEN AROUND WHAT 150 YEARS, AND ONLY THREE CATCHERS HAVE BATTED 300,100RBI’S.,THREE YEARS IN A ROW. THINK ABOUT THAT ,ONLY 3 CATCHERS. ONE OF THEM DID IT 4 YEARS IN A ROW. ONE OF THEM WAS ON JUICE, BECAUSE NO HITTER I ‘VE SEEN THAT WAS ABLE TO HIT A BALL OVER 400 FEET WITHOUT USING THEIR LEGS [PIAZZA].TO THE OPPOSITE FIELD. THE 4 YEARS IN A ROW WAS DICKEY, AND THEN THERE IS THURMAN MUNSON. NOT BERRA,CAMPY,BENCH,FISK,CARTER.BUT ALL OF THEM ARE IN THE HALL OF FAME,IT’S A SHAME. PEOPLE SAY HE DIDN’T PLAY LONG ENOUGH, NO CATCHER PUTS UP GOOD NUMBERS FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. HE CAUGHT AN AVERAGE OF 140 GAMES A YEAR FOR 9 YEARS ,NO CATCHER HAS DONE THAT.I SAY IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN THE WRITERS SHOULD NOT VOTE .WHEN THE PLAYERS CAN VOTE FOR THE WRITERS HALL OF FAME THEN LET THE WRITERS VOTE ,OTHERWISE LET THE PLAYERS OF THAT ERA BETTER YET LET THE PLAYERS OF THAT ERA WHO PLAYED THAT POSITION OF THE PLAYER VOTE.I ALSO ASKED BILLY MARTIN WAS ON THE SAME TICKET AS WHITEY HERZOG,BILLY WAS THE BETTER MANAGER HIS TEAMS CAME IN FIRST AND WHITEY MAKES THE HALL AND BILLY DOESN’T.WHY, HIS NUMBERS AS A MANAGER IS WHAT “THEY” ARE SUPPOSE TO BE VOTING HIM ON, I DON’T GET IT

  22. THANK YOU ,ANONYMOUS,
    FOR AGREEING WITH ME, I GUESS THE WRITERS DON’T CARE FOR ME AS I AM CALLING THEM OUT.

  23. Thurman Munson belongs in the hall of fame. Period, end of story. I can’t define obscenity but i know it when i see it. I can”t define what it takes to be a HOF catcher, but i know it when i see it. I saw Munson play. I saw a HOF catcher.

  24. I was watching giants game and announcer refers to buster possey as a future hall of famer. I looked up his stats and compared to munson. They eere almost identical and munson had a better war. That s true possey future hall of famer. Both mvp both world series winners.

  25. NOW THAT BUSTER POSEY HAS RETIRED I HAVE SEEN ON TV THAT THE SPORTSCASTERS HAVE STATED HE’S
    A HALL OF FAMER ,THAT CATCHERS SHOULD BE LOOK AT DIFFERENTLY. WELL, IF THAT’S THE CASE THEN THURMAN MUNSON IS IN,BECAUSE HIS NUMBERS ARE THE SAME AND IN SOME STATS BETTER THAN POSEY’S.
    ELSTON HOWARD TOO.I AM BIAS TOWARDS CATCHERS SO I’LL BE VERY GLAD THAT POSEY MAKES THE HALL ,BECAUSE IF HE GOES IN THEN MUNSON IS THERE AS WELL.

  26. An additional factor to consider was the fields the players in the 70’s played on. Riverfront, Three Rivers, Veterans Field,
    Busch Stadium, Astrodome all had artificial infields that a simple ground ball could rocket thru for a hit, RBI, etc….
    Do you think Pete Rose would have over 4000 hits playing in Yankee Stadium or American League with real grass?
    How many of those singles and RBI’s would have been double plays?
    How many batting average points were those fields worth to Bench & Simmons,
    They played 75% of their games on those fields.
    How many Yankee Stadium singles became Riverfront or Busch Stadium doubles or triples?
    Simmons was a good ball player but in the confines of Busch Stadium he became a HOF’er, Really??
    Bench was a 260 hitter in Riverfront, think he hits .260 in Yankee Stadium?
    How many HR’s does he lose?
    How many RBI’s without those hits or all those additional baserunners that became ground ball outs vs hits in the hole?
    Finally, didn’t Sandy Koufax leave baseball with an injury after only 4 HOF seasons out of 12 and 165 wins?

    I understand these issues cannot be factored overall vote but compare Simmons and Munson and consider the above and you see that Munson was the better ball player.

    1. Lets hope with Posey being a SURE HALL OF FAMER ,according to some sports writers, Thurman gets considerations too.
      REALLY enjoyed your point of view Frank, the Koufax comment was something for Everyone to think about, I take it as catchers DON’T put up good numbers for a long period of time because of the wear and tear on the player’s body.Something else to think about is Thurman didn’t TALK to the writers,I asked before LOOK at Albert Belle’s numbers and tell me why he’s not in the hall,Jeff Kent as well,again they didn’t TALK to the writers.

      1. Munson in 1973 had the best war numbers of any yankee catcher in their history! better then berra dickey howard posada. Possey played in smaller parks and munson numbers are compareable .Also compare fisk to munson at their same lenght of years of playing time. Jackson basically got in on clutch performance who was better then thurmanin the clutch. Watch games from the 70 s and your see the hit n runs, moving the runner over.On another subject mattingly belongs in as well. And what about billy? You mentioned koufax then what about guirdy 3 times 20 game winner and in 79 he would have won 20 but went in bullpen for a month when gossage went down. This is clearly a yankee prejudice.

        1. I’ve seen him play. I am in my 60’s.I don’t need watching dvds or you tube,I’ve seen him play,living in new york all my life ,so I don’t need to be sold. Also, maybe hard to take in for all you Munson haters or anti yankees , but Thurman had a better pct of throwing out runners who tried to steal than Fisk,Carter, Simmons and YES,BENCH.44 to 43 on Johnny.But ,Yes Iam bias.

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