The Monday After: Breaking into the 'big leagues'

"It's Munson All Alone!"

The issue of The Canton Repository for Feb. 18, 1969, carried that headline over a photograph gracing the sports front of the newspaper that day. The image was of a sole slugger, bat in hand but casually dressed, standing at home plate of the Florida training site for the Major League's New York Yankees.

"What, no pitcher?" the caption to the United Press International photograph asked, following the question with an identification of the "batter."

"Rookie Thurman Munson, catcher from Canton who starred at Lehman High, was the only Yankee who appeared Monday at the Ft. Lauderdale Yankee Stadium," the caption explained. "The New York Yankees planned to open their advance camp − with or without the players who have threatened to stay away until a pension agreement is reached."

Players eventually would arrive. Training would take place. Games would begin. A season would be played. A championship would be won by a New York team.

True, it would be the New York Mets that won the World Series championship when the "October Classic" arrived in 1969. But the baseball fortunes of their cross-town rivals, the Yankees, were about to change for the 1970s.

And the presence of Thurman Munson on the "Bronx Bombers" for the next decade was to become arguably the singularly most important reason why the Yankees started to achieve renewed success.

Called a future great

"He's the best looking catcher I've seen in a long time," Yankees' manager Ralph Houk said once spring training began prior to the 1969 season. "Munson's got a rifle for an arm, and he's quick as anything. He's meeting the ball. That's the main thing."

No less an authority than former Yankees catcher Elston Howard, by then the team's first base coach, raved about the rookie, according to a Charlie Powell column published in the Repository on March 30, 1969.

"The kid is going to be a hell of a ballplayer," Howard said.

And, one of the players the Yankees were platooning at catcher that season, Jake Gibbs, similarly did not hold back praise for Munson's skill set and work ethic. According to Powell's column, he said much the same thing as Howard. Both directed their comments to baseball observer Jack Bryan, who had Canton ties and penned a letter to Powell from the Yankees training camp revealing club officials' high expectations for the Stark County athlete.

"I had quite a lengthy talk with Thurman," Bryan wrote in his letter to Powell. "I didn't mention I had talked with anyone regarding his status, as I thought it might instill a feeling of complacency. I think I gave him some good advice on keeping his nose clean. You know how some of these rookies think they're on a picnic. However, Thurman is all work and guts."

Bound first for minor leagues

Munson, who had been drafted fourth overall by the Yankees in 1968 and spent the season that year hitting .301 during 71 games for the Yankees-affiliated Binghamton minor league team.

The catcher started the 1969 season with the Yankees' farm club in Syracuse, but played only 28 games for the Chiefs, batting .363 while collecting 37 hits and driving in 17 runs.

"He's catching well, throwing well and is hitting with authority," said Don Labbruzzo, then general manager of the Syracuse club, after Munson had played only a week for his team. "He's going to be a great one."

That kind of success caused him to be called up quickly to the parent club − to "The Show" − in mid-season. Munson made his major league debut on Aug. 8, 1969. According to online statistics, Munson got two hits in three times at bat, scoring two runs and batting another in, during the second game of a doubleheader against the Oakland Athletics.

"Thurm Belts First Homer in Big Time" shouted a headline in the Repository two days later.

"After Roy White broke a 1-1 deadlock with a homer in the fifth for New York, Bobby Murcer, Thurman Munson and Gene Michael hit successive homers in the sixth on five pitches. ... Munson, from Canton, Ohio, hit his first major league homer. Both he and Michael played at Kent State University."

Quickly made an impression

An article later in the month by Jim Ogle in The Sporting News, republished in the Repository on Aug. 30, 1969, reported that Munson's early performance turned heads in the baseball world.

"Thurman Munson, the New York Yankees' highly touted rookie catcher, made his major league debut earlier than expected and no unveiling created as much excitement since the first performance of 'Oh, Calcutta!'"

"Munson, on a weekend pass from Fort Dix, made his bow against Oakland when Frank Fernandez had to leave for weekend military duty and Jake Gibbs was still recovering from an injury. The 22-year-old receiver caught three games ... all victories ... then (briefly) stayed behind to help Syracuse out of an emergency while the Yankees hit the road.

"Unless all indications are wrong, it will be the last time the Yankees will make a trip without Munson for some time to come ... unless his two-week annual military duty comes at the same time."

Munson's "Big League Debut Has 'Em Buzzin'," the headline for the article said when printed in the Repository. "Munson Looks Like A Champ."

Later in the season, an Associated Press article noted that the Mets' success "has taken the city by storm and left the once-mighty Yankees in a strange position as the other team in town."

Still, "Rookies Like Thurm Ease 'Pain' from Mets," said a headline over the article, published in the Repository on Sept. 21, 1969.

"There is little doubt," the article said, "that Munson will be next year's No. 1 catcher."

Builds a stellar career

Munson was the Yankees' starting catcher in 1970 and stayed in that spot for 10 more years.

Before his death in a plane crash in 1979, Munson built a career with the Yankees that stretched across parts of 11 seasons, 1,423 games, and 5,344 at bats. According to statistics published by Baseball Reference, during that time he batted a career .292, with an on-base percentage of .346 and a slugging average of .410. He hit 113 home runs and had 701 RBI.

Munson, who was American League rookie of the year in 1970 and AL Most Valuable Player in 1976, hit safely in 27 of his 30 postseason games, en route to helping the Yankees go to the World Series three consecutive years, winning it in 1977 and 1978. He was captain of the Yankees from 1976 until his passing in 1979.

Those statistics and honors, along with praise for the player's leadership qualities and recognition of his on-field toughness, form the foundation for arguments that Thurman Munson should be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"Thurman Munson was the glue that held the Yankees pitching staff together during those championship years," notes a quote by sports book author Peter Golenbock that is posted at the website munsonhof.com. "He was a fierce competitor who was beloved by everyone on those teams.

"His greatness cannot be measured by batting average and home runs alone. Without him, the Yankees do not win those pennants and championships."

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On Twitter: @gbrownREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: The Monday After: Munson breaks into the 'big leagues'