Compiling magic numbers guaranteed induction, but Munson did have the requisite 10 years that the Hall of Fame demands. He finished with a. He changed the Yankees culture, winning Rookie of the Year honors in He was AL MVP in , a gifted and durable catcher with an incredibly quick release, and was the heart and soul of the team.
That year requirement fits one of the key components to being elected to the Hall of Fame. In , he was voted by the Sporting News as the America League catcher of the decade in the s. Fisk won the Rookie of the Year two years after Munson and played until Bench won the NL Rookie of the Year in and retired in But Bench and Fisk — both born in as Munson was — were at their best in the s with Munson.
Baseball teams are evaluating players differently, so we are taking another look at his career through the way players are valued now. In more traditional stats, Munson was the first catcher to achieve four consecutive seasons of hits. He finished in the top 10 in batting average five times. He batted.
He threw out 46 percent of the runners in To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. One of many debates in which baseball fans love to engage involves the Hall of Fame. Based mostly on subjective opinions and biases — heck, even objective measurements such as statistics are selected, weighed, and used subjectively by each of us — we all have players on our hypothetical ballots who we feel should be enshrined in Cooperstown who are not. Yet among former Yankees who are not enshrined in Cooperstown, the easiest case to make for a snub is Thurman Munson.
Frankly making the case that he is not a Hall of Famer is harder than making the case that he is. 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. Thanks for the kind words John.
The Yankees of that era are represented by only 3 players, Jackson, Hunter and Gossage. Though a case could be made for several of them. Thanks for commenting Arthur. Obviously, Hunter is not in Cooperstown because of what he did in New York. Stay tuned about Nettles. Time permitting, I may write a piece about him too. Thanks Tom. Good luck! Besides one outlier hitting. Any clues? He was a Veterans Committee pick in Bresnahan played in the early 20th and was a pretty good hitter for the dead ball era; he walked a lot times , leading to a.
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. Bottom line if fisk is in. I remember the first time Thurman entered a Yankee game, late in a game toward the end of the season. I was 10 years old at the time. When you were a kid growing up with those second-half of the s Yankee teams, whoever this was who threw that runner out was what hope looked like. 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.
Munson hit. Thurman Munson was the most important player on the New York Yankees for 10 years, on some pretty special teams, not just Meaning, he created a winning culture on those teams over the course of a decade. Munson had three RBI years in a row , 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. 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.
Who knows, maybe three Yankee captains will go in together next summer? Munson Mattingly and Jeter. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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!! Add in one other factor. The Yankees played on natural grass. What happened to the NL All-Stars who hit. Bench, for example, would have been a. Ted Simmons would have had a lifetime average with homers and no post season. Yankee Stadium a difficult place to play and Munson excelled. Agreed Simmons was a compiler Never got many votes for mvp as far as I know. Yount, Ozzie and Jocketty probably helped Simmons chances.
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. Again, a terrific article; very well researched and compiled with noteworthy depth of analysis.
Get over the New York hype, and get over yourself. Simmons was more consistent and more durable and overall had more good years. Tough for Yankee fans to swallow, but plausible. Take Fisk 9 years that Munson played in and judge for yourself. Gil Hodges another one. He was a s Baseball Icon and a huge part of 2 World Championship teams whose life was tragically cut short…. 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 , 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.
Thurman Munson belongs in the hall of fame. Period, end of story. I saw Munson play. I saw a HOF catcher. I was watching giants game and announcer refers to buster possey as a future hall of famer. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. View Larger Image. Thurman Munson Remembered You can look at the stats and the awards we will, below. His phenomenal play in the postseason.
It was part of a resurgence for the Yankees under new owner George Steinbrenner, who bought the team in His tragic death, at age 32, while practice landing his Cessna Citation plane at the Akron-Canton Airport on Aug. With his amazing statistics, many wonder why Munson has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. They also speculate the shortness of his career — 11 seasons — hurt him.
As it stands, Thurman Munson is among one of the most puzzling oversights of the Hall of Fame. Related Posts. Cardinals World Series Wins to Present. Louis Cardinals Baseball. Allan Blutstein July 5, at am - Reply. Larry Silvestro January 22, at pm - Reply. Joseph Braganca February 2, at pm - Reply. Ed December 12, at pm - Reply.
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H Bohanan June 15, at pm - Reply. J Tourtellotte June 23, at pm - Reply. Lou Diamond June 26, at am - Reply. Tim Sweeney June 29, at am - Reply. Why are the writers that vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame so stingy so much of the time? Also consider length of standing ovation in Yankee Stadium at first game after funeral. Tim Sweeney July 12, at am - Reply. Wanted to clarify a few points. To categorize the above list…. T Reith July 1, at pm - Reply. Joe walsh July 21, at pm - Reply.
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