Marty Appel and Thurman Munson in the 1970s. Appel co-authored Munsonʼs autobiography.
On August 2, 1979, Marty Appel was working as a public relations rep at MLB headquarters in Rockefeller Center when the phone rang. It was after 5 p.m., and by then most of the staff had gone home. Marty picked up the phone. On the other end of the line was Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
“He said he needed to be put through to the Commissioner at once,” Appel recalls. “[He said] there had been a terrible accident and Thurman had been killed.” Thurman Munson gone?