Thurman to Cooperstown
NOTE: This is for the true baseball geek only.
On this the second day of August 2004 we remember the life and times of the great Thurman Munson. He was a Yankee, a Captain, a teammate and by all accounts a great person. So the question still remains why is he not in The Baseball Hall of Fame? There is plenty of precident here, Roberto Clemente was enshrined immediately after his tragic death, Sandy Koufax was a first ballot hall of famer for a body of work that consisted of 5 great years, and countless number of Negro League players were inducted for feats they may or may not have acheived. Munson career was tragically cut short, I do not think you can hold that against him. The only thin you can do is examine his body of work as it exists and compare it to his contemperaries. Me being the baseball freak, I have done the research for you and will now present it to you.
Thurman Munson played 11 seasons and made 7 All-Star appearences. He was the 1970 Rookie of the Year, 1976 AL MVP, and 3 Time Gold Glove winner. He batted .292 for his career, had 3 100 RBI Seasons, and 5 seasons were he batted over .300. Those are some very good numbers, he was always amongst the best players in the league, and he was known as the best clutch hitter in the game. That was most evident in the post season, where he batted .357 slugged .497 and had 22 RBI in just 30 games.
Here is a list of people who played alongside Munson wh are all in the Hall of Fam: Carlton Fisk, Tony Perez, Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Carl Yastremski, Willie Stargell, Billy Williams and Willie McCovey. Now some of these guys can be excluded from the argument because they have the magic numbers to get in the Hall, such as: Jackson (500 HR), Carew (3,000 Hits), Yaz (3,000), and McCovey (500). So now lets look at the rest of these guys.
Fisk.... .269 BA/3 .300 plus seasons/ 2 100 RBI Seasons/11 All Star games
Perez... .279 BA/2 .300 plus seasons/.238 BA & 25 RBI in 47 post season games
Morgan .271 BA/2 .300 plus seasons/ .182 post season BA
Bench... .267 BA/1 .300 plus season/ 154 hits per 162(Munson 177)/ .266 20 RBI in 45 post season games
Stargell .282/5 100 RBI seasons/3 .300 plus seasons/ 7 All Star games/ .266 20 RBI in 36 post season games
Williams .290/3 100 RBI seasons/5 .300 plus seasons/6 All Star games
I will leave the rest up to you.
On this the second day of August 2004 we remember the life and times of the great Thurman Munson. He was a Yankee, a Captain, a teammate and by all accounts a great person. So the question still remains why is he not in The Baseball Hall of Fame? There is plenty of precident here, Roberto Clemente was enshrined immediately after his tragic death, Sandy Koufax was a first ballot hall of famer for a body of work that consisted of 5 great years, and countless number of Negro League players were inducted for feats they may or may not have acheived. Munson career was tragically cut short, I do not think you can hold that against him. The only thin you can do is examine his body of work as it exists and compare it to his contemperaries. Me being the baseball freak, I have done the research for you and will now present it to you.
Thurman Munson played 11 seasons and made 7 All-Star appearences. He was the 1970 Rookie of the Year, 1976 AL MVP, and 3 Time Gold Glove winner. He batted .292 for his career, had 3 100 RBI Seasons, and 5 seasons were he batted over .300. Those are some very good numbers, he was always amongst the best players in the league, and he was known as the best clutch hitter in the game. That was most evident in the post season, where he batted .357 slugged .497 and had 22 RBI in just 30 games.
Here is a list of people who played alongside Munson wh are all in the Hall of Fam: Carlton Fisk, Tony Perez, Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Carl Yastremski, Willie Stargell, Billy Williams and Willie McCovey. Now some of these guys can be excluded from the argument because they have the magic numbers to get in the Hall, such as: Jackson (500 HR), Carew (3,000 Hits), Yaz (3,000), and McCovey (500). So now lets look at the rest of these guys.
Fisk.... .269 BA/3 .300 plus seasons/ 2 100 RBI Seasons/11 All Star games
Perez... .279 BA/2 .300 plus seasons/.238 BA & 25 RBI in 47 post season games
Morgan .271 BA/2 .300 plus seasons/ .182 post season BA
Bench... .267 BA/1 .300 plus season/ 154 hits per 162(Munson 177)/ .266 20 RBI in 45 post season games
Stargell .282/5 100 RBI seasons/3 .300 plus seasons/ 7 All Star games/ .266 20 RBI in 36 post season games
Williams .290/3 100 RBI seasons/5 .300 plus seasons/6 All Star games
I will leave the rest up to you.
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