Kevin Kernan: His locker is a shrine, his plaque is in Monument Park and his No. 15 is retired. The Yankees have honored Thurman Munson in many ways; it’s time baseball honors this Yankee hero and put him where he belongs in the Hall of Fame. When Munson died 25 years ago tomorrow, a proud piece of the Yankees died with him. Munson was the first Yankee captain since Lou Gehrig and meant just as much to his Yankees as the Great Gehrig did to those Bronx Bombers. Munson was a great catcher in an era of great catchers. Numbers don’t begin to tell his story.
Jay Greenberg: I agree that numbers don’t fully reflect what a player brought to the game, but if we just go by intangibles, Wally Backman is a Hall of Fame candidate. If Munson’s numbers were borderline-qualified, then everything else he assuredly represented should put him in. But tragically, he just didn’t get the opportunity to do enough. Munson never got more than 62 votes when he was on the ballot, a reflection that the voters who watched is career didn’t think he measured up. Time does put a different perspective on things, which is why the Veterans Committee exists and why Gil Hodges may still get in. But using Gil as an example, his career numbers were a lot better the Munson’s and he got a lot more support when he was on the ballot.
Kernan: If you want numbers and highlights, here are some: Munson was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1970, batting .302. In 1976 he was the league’s MVP. Mr. October in his own right, the seven-time All-Star played in three World Series: 1976, ’77, and ’78 and batted .529, .320 and .320 for an overall mark of .373. He was the first Yankee since Joe DiMaggio to hit .300 or more and have 100 or more RBIs three years in a row. He also won three Gold Gloves at the hardest position. He compiled a lifetime batting average of .292, and as pointed out in the website: Votethurmanin.com, that’s a better mark than Hall of Fame catchers Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Johnny Bench, and Carlton Fisk.
Greenberg: Jason Kendall is on his way to hitting over. 300 for the sixth time in his career and at $10 million is still considered one of baseball’s most overpaid players. Homers and RBIs are the stats that determine a catcher’s batting worth. Munson had only those three 100-RBI seasons, hit 20 homers only once. Berra knocked in 100 five times, hit 20 eight times. Bench had six 100-plus-RBI seasons, eight 30-home run seasons. by age 32, when Thurman died. Campanella had the same three 100-plus-RBI seasons, but hit 20 homers six times and had already won three MVPs, not one, at age 32. All these guys were terrific defensively and had fine postseason numbers so there was no significant area where you can measure Munson over them, or even argue he did as much. Fisk made the Hall on his sustained excellence and durability over 24 seasons, and unfortunately, you can’t lobby for Munson in those categories, either.
Kernan: My long-winded friend, you are so blinded by numbers like many of today’s Jameseon sportswriters and GMs, that you are overlooking the most important aspects of Munson’s game, things that can’t be measured by numbers. Thurman Munson was the leader of great teams, the captain, the toughest guy with a heart of gold, a real baseball player, and, most of all, the ultimate winner. Twenty-five years after his terrible death, I say that’s Hall of Fame in my book.
Greenberg: I’m moved. And they are going to have to move the Hall of Fame out of little Cooperstown and into the main exhibit hall of the Javits Center if you are going to vote emotionally and not on a player’s body of work in comparison to the standards set by alltime greats. And yes, my choked-up friend, that has to include statistics. Munson was such a terrific player, leader and winner that a few more great years might have put him on the bubble. But his numbers were slipping at the time of his death and so was his team. The few players who got in despite relatively short careers, like Sandy Koufax, were utterly dominant. You can’t make that case here.
