Munson batted .302 in his first full year of 1970 and was named the American League Rookie of the Year. He hit .301 in 1973, .318 in 1975, and .302 in 1976, when the Yankees won their first pen- nant in twelve years. He was named the American League's Most Valuable Player that year and had already been named captain of the Yankees by Steinbrenner, the first captain the team had had since the death of Lou Gehrig in 1941. Not DiMaggio, not Mantle, not Berra, not any of the heroes of previous teams had earned that honor. He took the honor with a growl. All he seemed to care about was the extra $500 he got for the title from the club.

As grouchy by nature as Munson was through 1976, it only grew worse starting in the spring of 1977. Reggie Jackson showed up, announced that he was "the straw that stirred the drink," and became the self-appointed center of the Yankee universe. It didn't matter that Munson had another terrific season with his third straight year over .300 at .308 and his third straight year with one hundred RBIs. Jackson was the story. Jackson was always the story. Munson would march around the clubhouse with a scowl on his face after a Yankee win, maybe a game in which he had delivered the winning hit, and stare over at the crowd of sportswriters around Jackson.

Munson was bom in Akron, Ohio, on June 7, 1947. His father was a German imrnigrant who had come to the United States as a small child, retaining all the traditional Teutonic stiffness of the German nature. He was incapable of any softness, gentility, or ability to communicate with his son. He worked as a cross-country track driver and was away a good part of the time. His mother was gentle and kind but seemed to retreat into a shell when her husband came home. Munson turned early to sports, was outstanding in every game he played, and soon recognized that baseball was his best game.

The Munson household was always tight with money and that became a motivation for athletic success. Munson later became difficult in salary negotiations with the Yankees, pushing hard for every penny he could get and investing carefully in shopping centers, land deals, and local real estate. Munson and teammate Lou Piniella, a business whiz, often exchanged ideas about how to make their baseball salaries grow dramatically.

Late in 1977 Munson took up flying private planes. He took lessons from friends in Akron and soon purchased his own small private plane. While most ballplayers rent homes in the cities they play in, Munson preferred to keep his family back home in Ohio. He flew home to Akron from New Jersey's small Teterboro Airport, a center for private planes, as often as he could manage. He spent those off days with family, friends, and Ohio business associates.

The flying added to the tension in Munson's life. He was always checking schedules, the weather, and the lateness of games. Extra inning games, unfortunately too common, annoyed him beyond belief. While he continued to play remarkably well for the 1977 and 1978 Yankees, his anger became more obvious.

I had given up trying to talk to him after games by then and had just decided, as was always possible, to write around him. If he won a game with a big hit I might write about the batter before him. If he threw out a key runner attempting to steal a base against him I would write about the great tag at second base. If he had little to do with the winning or losing of the game if was always easy to march to Reggie's locker and listen to his lecture for a while.

He had a run-in with a fan in Minnesota who aggressively pursued him for an autograph. He stomped around the clubhouse shouting curses when sportswriters whom he had ignored now ignored him after he won a game. He even had hot words with Billy Martin, a devotee and supporter, just before Martin resigned in 1978. Munson had been playing his stereo at an ear-splitting level on a Yankee charter flight. The card players couldn't get him to stop. Someone went up to the first class section, told Martin about it, and asked for his help. Martin asked Munson to lower the volume. Munson refused. Martin and Munson lunged at each other in the aisle of the plane but peacemakers Yogi Berra and Elston Howard calmed things down.

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