If Your Birthday is June 7th...

...you share it with the late, beloved Captain of the Yankees 1977-'78 World Series champions, Thurman Munson.  The 1970 AL Rookie of the Year went on to make seven All Star teams and was a .292 career batter --as well as the emotional heart of the combative "Bronx Zoo" Yankees.  Squaring off with Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin, they produced tension and titles -- and ruled the back pages of the New York tabloids.

That era ended with sudden, shocking heartbreak.  Munson had a hit and a walk while playing 1st base (a sort of "rest day") on August 1st, 1979 against the White Sox at Comiskey Park.  The next day, as the rest of the team headed back to New York, he was gone in a flash, while practicing in his recently purchased private plane.

His number-15 was immediately retired; his locker in the original Yankee Stadium remained unoccupied -- Derek Jeter, when he became the team Captain, used the one next to Munson's.  In the current Stadium, it is displayed in the Yankees Museum.

 

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