You’re up there, nobody asks any questions. You don’t have to put on any kind of an act. You just get up there and enjoy yourself. You have to be on your toes, but it’s just a kind of relaxation where you spend a lot of time by yourself, and I need that. I also need to get home a lot, so I love to fly. He was fearless.
Thurman was fearless in baseball, and he was fearless, I think, in flying. Munson had taken his hobby to a new level. He upgraded to a twin-jet Cessna Citation. He was flying home to Canton more than ever. While it had become a passion for Thurman, it was a concern for others. I don’t know that he he was instructed enough for him to be in such a sophisticated aircraft.
In spring training one year, he was taking flying lessons, and by the All-Star break, he was in a jet, and it’s just too much, too fast. I tried to talk him out of flying because I know enough about flying to know that when you go from a prop plane, where response is immediate, to a jet plane, where you takes time for the engines to pick up the response, that’s trouble.
But you know, let me tell you, the guy was a good pilot. I was up in the air a lot with with Thurman when he owned the prop-jet type planes. He’d always been wanting to want me to go up in the plane with him. I said, “There’s no way I’m going up in a plane with you.” He said, “Look, I don’t care whether you live or die,” he said to me, “but I really care if I live or die. Nothing’s going to happen.
” He was brazen though. He wasn’t afraid, and sometimes maybe he didn’t respect it enough. I would say that. Just seemed like this hard-headed Munson, he was going to master this. He was going to have it his way. There was no clause in the contract that prohibited it. People did speak to him.
We talked about it extensively, and it was one of those things where once he decided, it was pretty much the way he wanted it. Following a game in Chicago on August 1st, Thurman flew to Canton to spend the ensuing off day with his family. Bobby Mercer accompanied him to the airport. When he got ready to take off, he said, “Well, do me a favor.
” He said, “Just go down to the end of the runway and watch me take off.” And I never will forget when he took off. I mean, I couldn’t believe that Thurman was up there in this jet. I mean, this most powerful machine all by himself and it was dark. And he just took off into the into the night. Thurman arrived safely in Canton that night, but felt something was wrong with the jet.
He decided to run a series of touch-and-go tests the following day. It was on one of those maneuvers that Thurman crashed just 1,000 ft from the runway. The phone rang and the voice on the other side of the line said, “This is George. Goose this is George.” And I said, “George who?” And he said, “George Steinbrenner.
” You know, there was something wrong because he doesn’t call. And and you just don’t know what it is. He just said, “It’s Thurman.” As soon as he said it’s Thurman, I knew. New York Yankees and sports fans everywhere suffered a great loss tonight, that of star catcher Thurman Munson, who was killed this afternoon in an airplane crash.
My wife and I were eating dinner in New York City and one of the waiters came over, big baseball thing, and said, “Phil, he says, I hope it’s not true, but it just came over the airwaves that Thurman Munson was killed in an airplane crash.” Oh. Thurman Munson, the 32-year-old captain of the New York Yankees, is dead.
Roberto Clemente had been killed a few years earlier in a plane crash, but a modern athlete in the prime of his career in a such a high-profile position as being the captain of the Yankees. Boy, we hadn’t seen that come in sports in a long time. This was huge. My first reaction was shock.
My second reaction was anger. I I had Thurman because of the airplane. Catfish lived across the street from me and he came knocking on my door that night and he says, “You’re not going to believe this.” He says, he says, “Thurman’s dead.” I thought, “Man, he must be joking.” I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it.
I mean, I had I just saw him. We We just We just played a game together. I mean, that’s impossible. It was a most sickening shocking thing that ever happened to me. It was a surreal harsh reality. Thurman Munson was gone in an instant. Three people came to the door and told me what had happened and just changed our world.
As hard as it was, the Yankees tried to play a game the night after Thurman died. The weather was appropriate. It was a misty, cold rain. It was like tears enveloping the fans. They had a big flower spread in front of his locker and his catching gear was hanging up in the locker and the locker was completely cleaned out.
And uh I’ll just never forget that. That’s when I broke down and and that’s when I really It really hit me. Yeah, you know, just seeing that locker. We pause to pray for Thurman Munson, our brother and your faithful son. You could hear people this the fans in the stands just weeping and crying.
You know, we were just shocked. The outpouring of emotion by Yankee fans for their fallen hero caught his teammates off guard and only compounded their grief. It lasted for about 20 minutes and those 20 minutes did feel like 20 years, but it was a tremendous tribute to Thurman and I think the fans in New York knew exactly what kind of guy this was or what kind of ball player they had.
During the ceremony, home plate remained empty. There was that gap in there and he wasn’t there. I had the feeling that it would never be the same. There was no way to replace that man. I knew that the ball players were never going to be the same. I mean, they had to go on that field. I remember how hurt I was for all of them.
The Yankees lost the game that night one nothing, but with a funeral looming, games were not their priority. I told them we’re going to charter a plane and we’re going to fly out to Thurman’s funeral. Billy’s going, the whole team. They said, “Well, we can’t allow that because of what if you don’t make it back?” I said, “Well, then tough.
We don’t make it back, we forfeit.” On August 6th in Canton, Ohio, players past and present joined the Yankees in their sorrow. The eulogies left everyone drained. Billy Martin was a wreck. He was tough. Pinella, Mercer, I don’t know how those guys got through those talks, those eulogy talks. I don’t know how they did it, but they did it.
It was a dramatic day, it really was. Just all kinds of emotions from sorrow and grief to to some anger and and and and just about any emotion that you can conjure. We don’t know why God took Thurman away from us. Nobody really knows that. But we all know that as long as we all wear a Yankee uniform, Thurman will never be too far from us.
He’ll be right with us. It was genuine and sincere and it only added to the tears that were in the funeral home that day. Thurman Munson has worn the pinstripes with number 15. But a living, loving, and legend history will record my friend is number one. Then the Yankees faced the task of trying to compose themselves for that night’s game.
Riding home on the plane from the funeral, uh Billy had told me that he said, “Look, don’t even worry about playing tonight. Uh you get some rest, take tonight off. You know, it’s been a tough 2 or 3 days.” And and I told Billy, I said, “I I said for some reason or another, I feel like I I need to play tonight.
I’m not really tired.” It was the only The game was nationally televised. All eyes were on the Yankees and their missing comrade. He was the best there was at what he did and he was the pride of the Yankees. You didn’t really feel like playing, but you knew you had to. And uh I went out there and played a the team went out and played a heck of a ball game.
In the seventh, with the Yankees trailing 4-0, the last Yankee to see Thurman got the chance to close the gap to one. [cheering] [cheering] Like a Hollywood movie. You know, just coming through for Thurman. And then in the bottom of the ninth, still down by one, Mercer brought the game to a poignant end.
[cheering] [cheering] [cheering] This was for Thurman. This is in his memory. And the amazing thing is that Bobby Murcer came to my house and brought that bat. He wanted me to have that. [cheering] It’s a ballgame that the people that played in it will remember the rest of their lives.
It’s a big lift. You know, we won the game because of the moment. But um even the win was not joyous. After the game all the emotions were just like at the beginning. Everybody’s crying. It was difficult for us to rebound from that. It took us a while. Even going into the next year, you know, when you lose your leader, when you lose your spiritual leader on your team, your captain, it’s tough.
The bottom line is we knew he wasn’t coming back and and and and we all really felt bad for for Diane and the kids. Uh They’re going to have to do it without Thurman. everybody going and one by one standing in front of his locker. And I am still grateful that that locker’s empty in the Yankee clubhouse. His life was simple.
There were two motivations, Total dedication to family, to Diana’s wife and the three children, and the other, to be the best ball player he could possibly be. He succeeded more in his brief 32 years of life than most of us do in the normal 75. Because he was in the richest Yankee tradition, the tradition of dignity and glory of Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio and Henrich and Mantle and Maris and Ford and all of them who have made baseball history.
And more than that, he somehow showed that simplicity and honesty were the most important qualities in life. It is quite possible that the last network interview he ever did was the one he did with me just a couple of weeks ago. And his answer to my final question shows that honesty and that decency. Looking over your statistics, Thurm, every year 100 runs batted in, averaging out to 16 homers.
Last year, the nagging shoulder injury and only six homers, including the monstrous one that beat Kansas City. This year, still a paucity of home runs. What troubles you? Well, Howard, you know, I I think, you know, there’s a there’s a couple things. I think, you know, one thing last year, I got in a lot of bad habits because my shoulder, you know, did hurt so bad.
Now I got it operated on and it’s really not as strong as it should be. You know, we waited a long time in January and uh when I went to spring training, I still couldn’t throw and I couldn’t swing very well. So, I think it’s a combination of things and I you know, let’s face it. I I have a lot of pride in myself and I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself right now and I get up there and I’m probably over-swinging and I you know, trying to do things that I can’t.
Whenever you’re tense at the plate not relaxed, you know, you lose something. But uh I can promise you that whether it’s this year or next year or what, before my career is over, I’m going to get back to doing what I can do best, and that’s driving in runs and uh uh putting some victories up on the scoreboard.
You’re still the fulcrum of this ball club, the best there is at what you do. Good luck to you. Thank you, Howard. Thank you. He was the only Yankee ever to have been named a Rookie of the Year in his league and the Most Valuable Player. He was the best there was at what he did, and he was the pride of the Yankees.
And right now, you’re looking at a sign that says it’ll never be the same without you, Thurman. We love number 15. Here is the owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner. George, direct question. I was in your clubhouse. It was like a wake. Some of the players were emotionally drained, virtually all of them. Did you ever consider canceling uh the last Friday night’s game or tonight’s game? Well, Howard, I think we’re all emotionally drained in the Yankee family, and yes, we did.
Uh but Bobby Murcer spent the evening uh in the Munson house Thursday night, and he came in and came to see me uh Friday morning when we were talking about it with the Orioles and the league, and he said, “Diane asked for one thing, that Thurman never quit when he was hurt, and she wants us to play, even though everybody on that ball club was hurting and has been for 4 days.
” She just didn’t want him to quit. They’re Yankees, and uh they we don’t quit. They don’t quit. And so, the determination was made that because of Diane’s request to the team that we play, and and we you’ll have to admit we’ve played them right to the wire every game. Then, the Yankees have not given up for this season.
The trading of Rivers was not a give-up sign. Not at all. The Yankees never give up, Howard. Uh we proved that last year, and we’ve had more adversity than any team I’ve ever seen this year, but the fellows got up this morning at 5:30. They’ve been up all day. They’re drained emotionally. They’re tired, but they were where they should be.
They were where they wanted to be, with Thurman right to the grave and right to the end and that’s the way they are and that’s the way Yankees are. You’re done in yourself, aren’t you? Pretty much. I want to say this to you publicly because you deserve it. A, I know you wanted Diane and the public to see the Yankees tonight.
So again, and I mentioned this previously on the telecast, thank you for lifting the blackout. And you’re a battler Well, and good luck to you. We’ll battle back. Don’t worry about us, how anybody thinks they’re going to walk over us this season. Got another guess. Remember I said that. Very Yankees. Thank you. Thank you, Howard.
We’ll go back to the ads. Okay. Good luck to you.
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