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During the 1970s, Thurman Munson was among the top three catchers in major league baseball. He was named to seven all-star teams, respected by his peers and was the heart and soul of the Yankee championship teams of that era. When viewed through the prism of modern baseball analytics, Thurman Munson had an incredible decade of dominance from 1970 to 1979 that matches up with other catchers in the Hall of Fame.

In the long and glorious history of the New York Yankees, Thurman Munson is the only Yankee player to win both the Rookie of the Year Award and the American League Most Valuable Player Award.

He was a three-time Gold Glove winner, and the unquestioned leader of his team.  He was a rare breed of catcher—one who manages despite the physical and mental demands of his position to finish each year somewhere near the .300 mark. During  his 11- year career, Munson never went on the disabled list.

At the time of his death, he had accumulated the most hits of any catcher in a ten-year period. Munson ranked in the top 10 among American League hitters in 5 times, was the first catcher to have 4 consecutive seasons with 180 hits, had three consecutive seasons hitting .300 while driving in 100 RBI and perhaps his generation’s great clutch hitter-batting .357 in the post-season. He hit safely in 27 of 30 post-season games, collected hits in 10 consecutive world series games and hit safely in 7 consecutive world series at-bats.   

In 2006, Sports Illustrated named Munson to its American League All Decades Team of the 1970s.

The Munson HOF Committee has launched a campaign to have Munson inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019- the 40th anniversary of his tragic death. The HOF process for retired Major League Baseball players no longer eligible for election by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), along with managers, umpires and executives is that is that a player must first be placed on a ballot that is determined by the 11-person Historical Overview Committee (HOC). The ballot is usually finalized in the early fall. At the beginning of the annual baseball winter meetings, the Veterans Committee will conduct a vote on the names on the ballot. There are four Veterans Committees based on when candidates played (or when they were employed in the case of executives, managers and umpires). These are called the Era Committees. The relevant Era Committee for Thurman Munson is the Modern Baseball Era which encompasses 1970-1987. The Modern Baseball Era Committee will be meeting this coming December. Thus, the Munson HOF Committee has two goals: (1) have Thurman named to the HOC ballot and (2) have Thurman selected for induction by the Modern Baseball Era Committee.

To achieve these goals, the Munson HOF Committee has done the following: 

• Arranged for the Munson HOF Campaign to be officially launched at the February 4th Annual Thurman Munson Awards Dinner. Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay announced the offical launch of the campaign and asked those in attendance to support the campaign.
• Prepared a comprehensive Munson HOF package that was delivered to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on June 7th (Thurman’s birthday) for distribution to the individual HOC members. The Munson HOF package is available for review.
• The Munson HOF Committee and Thurman Munson Fan Club (known as “Thurman’s Army) attended Old Timers Day on June 23rd wearing Munson HOF T-shirts and parading around Yankee Stadium with “Support the Thurman Munson Hall of Fame Campaign” banners. During the eighth inning of the regular game against the Houston Astros, Michael Kay asked Yankee fans to support the Munson HOF campaign by signing the petition.

During the summer of 2019, the Munson HOF Committee organized additional events to publicize the Munson HOF campaign and gather support.

• Thurman’s Army attended the Friday night game on August 2nd against the Red Sox to observe the 40th year since Thurman’s passing.
• Thurman’s Army  also showed up for the day game on August 3rd and  participated in the Thurman Munson memorial rally held between games of the day-night doubleheader at Macombs Dam Park after the game.
• The Munson HOF Committee assisted with the cover article on Thurman Munson that appeared in the August issue of Yankees Magazine.
• the Munson HOF Committee prepared  the Munson HOF petition package to the support his selection to the Modern Baseball Era Ballot.
• On November 3rd, the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Thurman Munson. 
• On November 4th, the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced that Thurman Munson was one of the 10 players named to the Modern Baseball Era Ballot.  The Committee will meet at the MLB Winter Meetings and the results of the vote will be announced on December 8th.

In the meantime, the Munson HOC Campaign will be working behind the scenes to have Thurman Munson included on HOF ballot.

What can you do?

• Sign the Petition
• Ask your friends and family to sign the petition. 
• Ask your local newspapers to cover the Munson HOF Campaign.