headtopics
This Sunday marks 47 years since the passing of Thurman Munson, a player who performed at a near-Hall of Fame level throughout his nine-plus seasons with the Yankees. Following Lou Gehrig's death, an unwritten tradition suggested that no other Yankee would ever be designated captain.
Consequently, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra never held the title, and none anticipated otherwise. For 37 years, the only captain in The Bronx was Gehrig, who passed away in 1941. That changed five decades ago when George Steinbrenner, a football enthusiast at heart, insisted the Yankees appoint a captain.
Key Analysis
Marty Appel, then the Yankees' PR director and forever the team's foremost historian, reminded Steinbrenner that Joe McCarthy had wished for no other man to receive the honor. Despite that, the tradition was broken, and the list of impactful captains includes not only Yankees but also leaders from other New York teams, such as Jalen Brunson of the Knicks and Geno Smith of the Jets, each leaving their mark on the city's sports landscape.
Originally reported by headtopics.