29 Years Ago Today
I was wondering why I woke up today in a pissy mood. At first blush, I thought it was a hang-over from the Yankees poor play last night. However, now, I know, it’s more of an instinctual reaction to today being August 2nd. Via the Post:
Twenty-nine years ago today, Yankee captain Thurman Munson died in an airplane accident. The coincidence of that anniversary with today’s Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium is especially poignant for several participants.
Munson’s widow, Diana, will be on hand for the festivities in The Bronx, as will a number of Munson’s old teammates, including 2008 Hall of Fame inductee Goose Gossage.
“This is a bit bittersweet, being the last Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium, and it’s Aug. 2, which is the day of my husband’s accident,” Diana Munson said yesterday.
“But to be with the people who loved him and to share the feeling we all have … that’s the amazing thing about coming back to New York.”
Gossage, who played with Munson in 1978 and 1979, said he thought of him when he was on the podium in Cooperstown last weekend.
“There wasn’t a greater competitor or a greater friend or a greater teammate,” Gossage said. “And Thurman, with the anniversary [today] of his death, it’s going to be a great weekend … it’s going to be emotional.”
With the current Yankee Stadium closing at the end of the season, there is some doubt about what will happen to Munson’s locker, which has been preserved in the Yankees clubhouse ever since his death.
“It’s obviously very important to me what happens to that locker, and I’m so grateful to Mr. Steinbrenner for the tribute to Thurman, leaving it empty for 29 years,” Diana Munson said. “I’m nervous – I want to know where it’s going.”
Diana Munson was joined by Gossage in midtown yesterday for the announcement of a new promotion at Modell’s. Fans will have the chance to pose for photos alongside the Yankees’ 1978 World Series trophy, which resided in the Munson home for most of the past 30 years, with the proceeds benefiting the AHRC-NYC Foundation, the Munson family’s favored charity.
For more about my feelings around August 2, 1979, click here, or here, or here.
And, for more information on the AHRC-NYC Foundation, click here.
Any word on the auction and how it did?
why was griff sr. at the old timers game? I’m not old enough to know, but I assumed that there was bad blood with him since there is with jr.
Time heals all wounds?
~~Any word on the auction and how it did?~~
Nope. But, it probably went well.
[...] is one of those dates in Yankees history that will always be hard to [...]