Tragedy Grips World of Baseball Again

Just as the baseball world went into shock on Dec. 31, 1972, when Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash, it did so again when Thurman Munson died in a crash, 20 years ago today.

Munson, the 32-year-old New York Yankee catcher and captain, had bought a $1-million twin-engine jet so he could visit his family in Canton, Ohio, on Yankee days off.

He’d been practicing takeoffs and landings at Akron-Canton Airport with two friends when the plane crashed 1,000 feet short of the runway. His two friends kicked open an emergency door just as the plane erupted in flames. Munson was burned beyond recognition and his dental records were required for an official identification.

Munson was a mainstay on Yankee teams that won three consecutive pennants and the World Series two straight seasons. He was the American League most valuable player in 1976.

On the afternoon of the crash, Munson had had dinner with his father-in-law, Anthony Dominick.

“We’re shook--we’re really shook,” Dominick said. “I just had dinner with the boy at Prestwick Country Club. He told me there was something wrong with the plane and he was going to get it fixed. About an hour after dinner, I got a phone call from the airport people, telling me of the crash. It’s unbelievable.”

Munson left his wife Diane and three children--Tracy Lynn, 9; Kelly, 8, and Michael, 4.

Two days later, it took four hours for Canton citizens to walk by his casket at a service at the Canton Civic Center. In New York, 51,151 came to Yankee Stadium for a pregame memorial service for Munson.

Also on this date: In 1932, at the Los Angeles Olympics, Pasadena’s Lillian Copeland, a USC law student, won the women’s discus gold medal on her final throw. . . . In 1907, Walter Johnson made his major league debut against Detroit. He pitched six innings, gave up six hits and was charged with the loss as Detroit beat Washington, 3-2. The first hit Johnson gave up was a bunt single by Ty Cobb.