>>I've always hated the NY Yankees with a passion (just like I hate the Steelers and the entire ACC!), but I always respected Thurman Munson (who was killed 30 years ago today).
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>>1979 was my first year in teener baseball - I pitched and played different infield positions - but our regular catcher broke his leg before the season started, and I volunteered to catch. Thurman was one of my heros, and so I played exactly the way he played (I actually did pretty well).
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>And Gene Quill played just like Charlie Parker. ;)
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>Yeah. Munson was one of the true greats. I felt kind of the same way about Tony Conigliaro (before your time). The guy went through a lot only to die as a vegetable.
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>> And when I got banged up (all kinds of bumps and bruises from foul tips, hurt my knees, and got hit twice in the head/mask with a bat), I pretended I was like Thurman playing hurt.
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>>By the time August came around, our season was done, but I kept following Thurman as much as I could. (Even wanted to grow a moustache like his, but I was only 14).
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>>I was watching a late afternoon Phillies game on August 3rd against the Mets. The Phillies put a four spot on the board in the top half of the first inning. Right before they went to a commerical break, Phillies commentator Richie Ashburn said, "Harry (referring to Harry Kalas), I've just been handed a tragic, tragic news story - Thurman Munson, the great catcher for the NY Yankees, has been killed in a plane crash". I was crushed.
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>>A few night later, the Yankees and Orioles played the famous Monday night baseball game on ABC, right after the funeral, when the Yankees won an emotional come-from-behind victory and Bobby Mercer cried on the field.
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>>Back in those days, all I did in the summer was play baseball, watch baseball (and yes, chase girls). I was so stunned by the news that for a week I hardly did or said anything.
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>>RIP, Thurman, you were a stud

I was watching the game when Tony C. got hit in the face. He was never the same again.

Yaz was my favorite growing up, and he did it without steroids. He led the AL in 1968 with a .301 batting average. The year of the pitcher.