Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain

On August 2nd, 1979, the quintessentially tough, fiercely competitive New York Yankee Thurman Munson died at the age of 32, when the private plane he was piloting crashed in Canton, Ohio. This biography captures Munson's meteoric rise to stardom in baseball's most storied franchise.

About the Author :
Following his years as the Yankees' PR director, Marty Appel became an Emmy Award-winning television producer and coauthored Munson's bestselling autobiography, as well as a number of other books. Appel lives in New York City and appears frequently on YES Network, ESPN, MLB, and HBO.

Review :
"Seldom does a biographer get a do-over. Appel, who collaborated with legendary New York Yankees captain Thurman Munson on a standard "then-we-played" sports bio in 1977, decided to revisit the subject nearly 30 years after Munson's death in a plane crash in 1979. It was worth the effort. Appel, the Yanks public-relations director and Munson's friend during the catcher's years with the team, digs a lot deeper this time. The product of a harsh blue-collar upbringing in Ohio, Munson was not a simple man. He was capable of great loyalty, perpetual enmity, profound kindness, and arrogant egotism toward the press and sometimes-not always-the fans. His father resented his son's success, and the two were estranged most of Thurman's adult life. This time around Appel researches the life of a man, not a sports hero, and emerges with a textured portrait of a flawed but likable individual, often angry and bitter, occasionally an ass, but ultimately worthy of our respect, on and off the field. The best biographies recount the public life, reveal the private life, and give readers a sense of the critical intersection between the two. Appel manages all three and deserves high praise for keeping one of baseball's most intriguing players in the forefront." --"Booklist" (starred review) "Marty Appel's examination of Thurman Munson's traumatic life and controversial death is fascinating. The detail is amazing, and there's an anthology's worth of illuminating quotes. The glimpses of George Steinbrenner behind the scenes are priceless. As a longtime New York Yankee "insider," Appel knew Munson intimately, knew his family, knew his teammates and knew-knows-almost everyone of importance in Munson's often difficult life. An extraordinary book." --Robert Creamer, bestselling author of "Babe: The Legend Comes to Life" "Only Marty Appel could do justice to this fallen leader; a man who, a generation after his death, continues to inspire all who learn about him. Bravo, Ma "Marty Appel's examination of Thurman Munson's traumatic life and controversial death is fascinating. The detail is amazing, and there's an anthology's worth of illuminating quotes. The glimpses of George Steinbrenner behind the scenes are priceless. As a longtime New York Yankee "insider," Appel knew Munson intimately, knew his family, knew his teammates and knew-knows-almost everyone of importance in Munson's often difficult life. An extraordinary book." --Robert Creamer, bestselling author of "Babe: The Legend Comes to Life" "Only Marty Appel could do justice to this fallen leader; a man who, a generation after his death, continues to inspire all who learn about him. Bravo, Marty, for every page!" --Suzyn Waldman, NY Yankees Radio Broadcaster "If the measure of a great biography is the amount of new, previously un-mined material on the subject, then Marty Appel has hit a grand slam home run with this definitive portrait of Thurman Munson. Thirty years after Thurman's tragic death, we finally get the whole story of a very complex and private man. You don't even have to be a Yankee fan to find this a compelling read." --Bill Madden, "New York Daily News"