Thurman Munson Way

[wexy]

There's a story in the Times today about this tiny street that was named for Thurman Munson. Not much of a tribute...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/ny...nkees.html?hpw

[Dave Visbeck]

Rich, the article said something along the lines, that it did not exist until the 1960s. Said two schools were built on the road some years later. Have any idea how much later? Mr. Munson was pretty low profile ... so do you think there's a chance that he worked with kids from one or both of the schools that are on that street ... giving his time without a lot of press.

A lot of us may remember the old Jim Thorpe movie ... and there was a part in the story where he was driving past a bunch of kids that were playing a game of football ... and he accidently ran over their ball when it rolled out in from of his car. Of course he felt bad about what happened and he later showed up on the same block with a new ball ... and with some other football stuff for all the kids, (I may not be remembering it all exactly) and he ended up playing some football with them and sort of coached them some. I think he kept coming back.

Maybe it's a sort of a Munson story too. Maybe he met some kids from that area and just showed up on an invitation... and kept coming back in spare time. Who knows? I'd like to think it was something along those lines.

[MunsonNY15]

Once when driving through Ohio, I detoured to Canton to see Thurman Munson Stadium, a minor league park. It too was not grand in any sense of the word. But maybe like Diana says in the article, that's more of a fitting tribute. After all, Munson wasn't about the glitz and glamour.

Heidi

[hellonewman]

Once when driving through Ohio, I detoured to Canton to see Thurman Munson Stadium, a minor league park. It too was not grand in any sense of the word. But maybe like Diana says in the article, that's more of a fitting tribute. After all, Munson wasn't about the glitz and glamour.

Munson Stadium was kind of a victim of bad timing. It was built in 1989, literally a year or two before the minor league boom of the 1990s kicked in. As such, it was built in the manner of most MiLB stadiums of the 1980s, that is to say cheap and spartan, in anticipation of the tiny crowds that were going to minor league games in those days.

The funny thing is that by 1989 standards Munson Stadium was considered a pretty snazzy facility, and actually lured a AA team from somewhere else. Within 5 years or so it was obsolete.

[ymike673]

Munson Stadium was kind of a victim of bad timing. It was built in 1989, literally a year or two before the minor league boom of the 1990s kicked in. As such, it was built in the manner of most MiLB stadiums of the 1980s, that is to say cheap and spartan, in anticipation of the tiny crowds that were going to minor league games in those days.

The funny thing is that by 1989 standards Munson Stadium was considered a pretty snazzy facility, and actually lured a AA team from somewhere else. Within 5 years or so it was obsolete.

Wonder if Thurman Munson Stadium is still there. The minor league team moved to a new park about 10 years ago.

[hellonewman]

An independent league team occupied the park for several years after the AA team left. Then the indy team either moved or folded. My understanding is that Munson Stadium is still there but is used basically as a local rec facility now, American Legion ball and stuff like that.

[Mr Coffee]

http://www.ballparkreviews.com/canton/canton.htm#