1978 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
"Captain Thurm. He's the Yankees' indispensable man.
'One of the greatest players I've seen in 50 years,' says president Gabe Paul. Born in Akron, Thurman lives in Canton and has hinted he'd like to play closer to home.
'We're not going to trade Munson unless we can help the Yankees and I don't see how trading him will help the Yankees,' says Paul. Thurman was the first player in 13 years to have three straight years of 100 RBIs with a .300 batting average. He's one of the most productive catchers of all time, and a future Hall of Famer."
-Phil Pepe, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1978 Edition
"Thurman Munson is unquestionably one of the finest ballplayers in the major leagues today. 1976 saw Munson become the first Yankee captain since Lou Gehrig. And he responded by winning the American League's MVP award.
1977 saw him become the first player since Yankee broadcaster Bill White in 1962-1964 to bat .300 and drive in 100 runs for three consecutive years, and the first since Yankee executive vice-president Al Rosen (1952-54) to accomplish the feat in the American League.
Munson is the latest in a long line of great Yankee catchers (Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard) and he is the master field general and the best in the league at calling a game. He has tremendous pride and dedication, and although he is tops in his field, he never stops working to improve.
Thurman not only has won the MVP, but was the AL's Rookie of the Year in 1970 (the only Yankee to win both awards), and he has won three Gold Glove awards. Munson is a pressure player and has hit in nine of ten ALCS games, and in all ten World Series games that he has played in. A player's player, Munson is all business of the field and the leader of the World Champion Yankees."
-The New York Yankees Official 1978 Yearbook
1977 MOST VALUABLE YANKEE (7th in American League MVP voting)
"Captain Thurman, the defending MVP, had another of his typically outstanding seasons in 1977, batting .308 with 18 homers and an even 100 RBI. In doing so, he became the first major leaguer since Bill White (in 1962-64) to hit .300 and drive in 100 runs in three successive seasons. Perhaps even more of a testimonial to his most valuable contribution was the fact that he appeared in 149 games - the sixth straight year that he has appeared in more than 140. That's no mean feat for a catcher, but durable Thurman has never allowed injuries to force him out of the lineup any longer than necessary."
-The New York Yankees Official 1978 Yearbook
MAY, 1977 YANKEE OF THE MONTH
"Munson was the Yankees' hitting star with five homers and 21 RBI. In addition, the durable catcher hit .350 for the month, lifting his overall average from .296 to .326."
-The New York Yankees Official 1978 Yearbook
"The Yankee captain, appointed so at the start of the 1976 season, Munson is the first Yankee to have the captain's title since Lou Gehrig.
Thurman had another fine year in 1977, following up his MVP year in 1976. 1977 was his third straight year of batting .300 and driving in 100 runs, as he became the first major leaguer since Bill White (1962-64 Cardinals) and the first American Leaguer since Al Rosen (1952-54 Indians) to accomplish this feat. Thurman was named to his sixth All-Star team in 1977 and finished seventh in the MVP voting, highest among catchers. He had the Yanks' longest hitting streak in 1977, 16 straight from April 20 to May 8, which was the longest of Thurman's career, and also had streaks of 12 and 13 games last year. He had two-four-hit games in 1977, giving him 17 in his career, and had 11 game-winning hits last year, leading the Yanks in that category in 1976 with 17.
The American League's Rookie of the Year in 1970, Thurman was the first Yankee to win both the Rookie and MVP awards. He has batted over .300 in five of his eight full seasons with the Yankees. He was the league's third leading hitter in 1975, ninth in 1976 and thirteenth in 1977, when he was over .300 for most of the year, reaching a high of .335. Thurman had five RBIs in a game in 1974, and in 1975 became the first Yankee in 11 years to drive in 100 runs; he had three four-RBI games last year. His lifetime .291 average is now 12th on the all-time Yankee list.
Durable and rugged, and a great all-around athlete, Thurman has caught over 136 games for six years in a row and is a three-time Gold Glove winner (1973, 1974, 1975). In 1971 he made only one error all season, tying Elston Howard's .998 Yankee catching record. Thurman also has good speed for a catcher, with five stolen bases last year after stealing a career high of 14 in 1976. With a strong arm and a quick release, along with lightning fast reflexes, Thurman has carried on the Yanks' glorious catching tradition of Dickey-Berra-Howard-Munson.
Munson continued to shine in postseason play, hitting in four of five ALCS games last year after batting safely in all five in 1976. With his .435 average in '76, he set an ALCS record for hits with 10, but it was later broken by Chris Chambliss. Thurman also hit safely in all six World Series games last year (.320) after setting a record in 1976 for compiling the highest average ever for a player on a losing team (.529) when he tied a record with six consecutive hits in the process, including four in one game. Overall, Thurm has hit safely in 19 of 20 postseason games he has played in.
Thurman is a former All-American catcher at Kent State, and the Yankees' top draft pick in 1968, reaching the majors after only 99 minor league games.
He's involved in real estate investments in his native Ohio."
-1978 New York Yankees Media Guide
MUNSON NAMED FATHER OF THE YEAR
"Yankee captain Thurman Munson was recently honored as Baseball Father of the Year by the National Father's Day Committee. Thurman was feted at a May 23 luncheon along with such distinguished fathers as Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, Judge John Sirica, Yul Brynner, Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., and others."
-New York Yankees 1978 Scorebook and Official Magazine
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