Claim to fame: Next to Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk, Munson may have been the best catcher of the 1970s. He made seven All Star appearances in the decade along with winning three Gold Gloves and the 1976 American League Most Valuable Player award. He also helped revitalize the once-proud Yankees, joining a sputtering New York club in 1969 and later contributing to back-to-back World Series titles in 1977 and 1978. Munson’s career was cut short August 1, 1979 when he died in a plane crash at 32.
Current Hall of Fame eligibility: Munson posthumously exhausted his 15 years of eligibility with the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1995 and can be enshrined by the Veterans Committee.
Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? That’s a tough question. Had Munson played a full career, he’d likely have a plaque in Cooperstown by now. He’s part of a small group of players whose Hall of Fame chances were hurt by their untimely deaths. Others in this class include Ray Chapman and Urban Shocker. Of the group, Munson may come closest to enshrinement on playing merit. He hit .292 lifetime with 1,558 hits and was a cornerstone of the Yankee rebirth. I’d probably vote for him if I could.
There are a few men in the Hall of Fame whose careers ended prematurely, be it for injury, illness or death. These men include:
- Roy Campanella
- Roberto Clemente
- Dizzy Dean
- Ed Delahanty
- Lou Gehrig
- Addie Joss
- Sandy Koufax
- Kirby Puckett
- Rube Waddell
- Ross Youngs
Munson’s numbers fall short of the only catcher on that list, Campanella, who dominated more in fewer seasons, though I liken Munson favorably to Joss or Youngs. Joss won 160 games with a 1.89 lifetime ERA before dying of meningitis at 31 in 1911, while Youngs hit .322 in ten seasons before dying of Bright’s disease in 1927 at 30. Munson played more seasons than either player and rates comparably well or better on some of the Hall of Fame metrics. That being said, it took until the 1970s for the Veterans Committee to tab Joss or Youngs. In addition, Youngs had a teammate on the committee, Frankie Frisch, who helped get several friends enshrined. I don’t know if Munson has any such booster on the current committee.
It’s worth noting that historically, the Veterans Committee has generally rewarded players who got significant Hall of Fame vote totals from the BBWAA, and Munson was mostly an afterthought after peaking with 15.5 percent of the vote in his first year on the ballot, 1981. Even then, when Munson likely received extra votes from writers who didn’t know it was okay to vote otherwise, the Yankee catcher still finished 16th. Gil Hodges, Roger Maris and three other men who have yet to be enshrined as of this writing received more votes in 1981 than Munson. I wouldn’t be surprised if the committee considers Hodges or even Maris before Munson.
Even with a full career, Munson would face slim odds of making Cooperstown. Catchers have about as easy a time earning plaques as relief pitchers, stolen base specialists or any defensive whiz not named Brooks Robinson or Ozzie Smith. Two other fine catchers from Munson’s era awaiting enshrinement are Bill Freehan and Ted Simmons. Both had more All Star appearances than Munson by the time they were 32. In addition, Freehan had five Gold Gloves before his 28th birthday while Simmons amassed 2,472 career hits and a .285 lifetime batting average.
Interestingly, both Freehan and Simmons were one-and-done Hall of Fame candidates, meaning they got less than 5 percent of the vote their only year on the ballot which automatically disqualified them from future votes. Freehan spent his career with Detroit while Simmons did his best work with St. Louis and Milwaukee. Had Freehan or Simmons played in a comparably-sized media market to Munson or died in similarly tragic circumstances, I think their Hall of Fame bids would have received better support.
Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? is a Tuesday feature here.
No.
Very funny. This will be old in about six months or the fiftieth time the title of this column elicits a one-word response.
Munson does belong in the Hall. He is one of just three catchers to hit 300 and drive in 100 runs three years in a row. The others are Piazza and Dickey. Munson was a ROY, an MVP, a three time gold glover and a seven time all star. He was the captain of two World Series teams and three AL championship teams. Two pitchers won Cy Young awards with Munson as their trusted backstop, Sparky Lyle and Ron Guidry. Munson hit 292 in a pitcher’s era and played his entire career in tough ballparks for a right-handed hitter (Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium in 74-75). He hit 300 with runners on base and in the post season. Had he played out his career he would have topped 2000 hits and likely come close to or exceeded 1000 runs and rbis. Chances are he would have also played in another World Series. It wasn’t right for the regular voters to take this into consideration but its ok for the Veterans Committee. On a wins over replacement player basis, Munson is about tied with Campanella in the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia for his career.
Hi Charlie, thanks for commenting. That’s a good point about the Veterans Committee having different things it can take into count than the BBWAA. I didn’t think of that but it makes total sense.
By the time he died, Thurman was pretty well beaten up, battered and bruised, with bad knees and an arm that was pretty well shot, he would have been forced to move to the less demanding DH or perhaps 1B, probably within a year or so. As the result of the injuries, his power had severely declined and the force of his great will and competitive spirit was about all that was keeping him running. I doubt that whatever counting numbers he might have added to the collection could have contributed any more to way we remember him with all his dogged determination and over achieving, and may well have detracted from how we perceive him today.
Here is where stats can be a good example of polluting one’s perspective on excellence in baseball. It is never more apparent than with catchers, who for all intents an purposes control the success of a game more than any other player. They call the pitches. They have to know the batters better than the pitcher does, they have to have the most critical awareness of everything going on in the field and all while they sit in the most painful crouching position and have to take the brunt and abuse of balls in the dirt, foul tips, 200+ lb men driving home to knock your brains out. The stats for leading a team under those conditions do not exist, altho Munson did accumulate some excellent stats in the field and at bat in his 11 years. Munson;s value to the Yanks cannot be established on paper as it could with perhaps a Reggie Jackson. I bet if you asked a teammate of that time who they felt was the most important person on the team, they most likely would have said Munson over anyone. The same would hold true for Freehan, Simmons, Tim McCarver and Joe Torre. Finally, catchers need to be judged differently in that the sheer abuses they take totally undermine their ability to hit, run and have a long career. Can you imagine what Johnny Bench would have done offensively if he played firstbase? Joe Torre is a good example of that, having one of the most amazing seasons anyone ever had at that time after being freed of the shackles of catching.
Munson played in the shadow of two of the greatest catchers ever in Bench and Fisk. I think their great offensive success skewed the facts in that Munson’s hitting stats are quite excellent for a catcher of any era.
I’m a Thurman fan, and while he’s not one of the top 10 catchers of all time, he’s probably in the top 15 or 16. If he ever makes the Hall, I’ll be thrilled; if he doesn’t, I can live with it; I do take issue with the opening statement “Next to Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk, Munson may have been the best catcher of the 1970s”. For just the 70s, Munson was better than Fisk, hands down. Being a righthand hitter at Shea/Yankee Stadium, Munson’s homer totals were kept from getting very big, but he still reached 100 RBIs 3 years in a row; if he could have switched ballparks with Fisk, his stats would be considerarably better than they are; Fisk has the better career, but Thurman was the American League’s premier catcher of the 1970s.