40 years ago today, the Yankees lost their captain
Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere. I looked both on this board, and the main forum (using Taptalk on my iPhone), and didn’t see anything.
August 2, 1979. Thurman Munson, on a scheduled off day during the MLB season, the great Yankee Captain decided to go see his family. He was doing touch-and-go landing practices at the Canton, Ohio airport when he came in to shallow on what I believe was his fourth run through. He was unable to pull the plane up, and it hit the ground some 600 feet short of the runway, stopping after a collision with a tree stump. Two friends also on the plane with him (one his flying instructor) both survived, and were able to escape the plane as it caught on fire. But they could not free Munson, whose legs were trapped by the crushed fuselage. Munson’s last words to his friends before losing consciousness demonstrated s greater concern for their wellbeing than his own. “Are you guys okay?”
Munson was a tremendous competitor, but is remembered most by friends and family as a good family man, and intensely private.
RIP to “the Wall”. All these years later, #15’s example shines brightly for the current members of the Bronx Bonbers.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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