* RK Review: Munson

November 26, 2009

The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, by Marty Appel (Doubleday)

I doubt there’s anyone better qualified to write the biography of the late catcher than Appel, who served the Yankees for many years, first as a PR director, later in  television production. The contacts he has devloped over the years would fill a small-town phone book.

In fact, Appel was the writer on Munson’s 1978 autobiography. In his new book, Appel allows that Munson was something of a reluctant subject, reticent about disclosing too much personal information, which makes for somewhat ambivalent reading. With Munson, it’s easy to understand why he felt that way.  An abusive father who seemed to take little interest in his son’s talents and a lower-middle class upbringing could embarrass anybody.

For roughly two-thirds of the book, we get a standard tale of a celebrity succeeding despite circumstances. Let’s face it, we know what ultimately happens: the tragic tale of a young man cut down in the prime of his career having finally found love and validation. It’s the final chapters that make Munson difficult to read but also difficult to put down. Appel writes about the events leading up to the crash on July 2, 1979, including Munson’s perhaps inflated sense of his skills as a pilot. We read an especially harrowing interview with Jerry Anderson, Munson’s friend and a passenger on that ill-fate flight as well as other heretofore unpublished information.

The only bone of contention are the “teases.” Throughout the book Appel telegraphs the events to come with comments about planes (you know you’re getting close when he starts “date stamping”  sections of the book). None of this matters. The reader is drawn in despite the foreknowledge.

One wonders what Munson would have thought about Appel’s portrayal. One the one hand, he had an “F*** you” attitude, indifferent to the opinions about him from anyone other than his teammates, who, with few exceptions, loved him for his gritiness and skills. On the other, don’t we all like hearing or reading the nice things said about us? It’s too bad such honors often come too late.

Look for an interview with the author in the near future.

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