Thurman Munson was one of the greatest clutch players in the history of baseball.

Thurman Munson hit .302 for his career with runners in scoring position(RISP). With men on base (MOB), Munson batted .307.

How does Thurman Munson’s career batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP) rank against his contemporaries? Let’s compare his statistics with three of his contemporaries who are in the Hall Of Fame.

Carlton Fisk: RISP .270, MOB .274
Gary Carter: RISP .271, MOB .272
Johnny Bench: RISP .262, MOB .273
And, just for fun, the Immortal Yogi Berra: RISP .265, MOB .264

All of these players deserve to be enshrined in the HOF. They were all dominant players in their era, as was Thurman Munson.

In his 10 full seasons, Munson was a 7-time All-Star, a 3-time Gold Glove Award winner, an American League MVP, and the 1970 Rookie of the Year. His career batting average of .292 ranks 4th ALL-TIME among American League catchers with at least 5,000 career at bats. His batting average ranks 79th ALL-TIME among all position players in either league. He hit .357 for his post-season career, including .529 in the 1976 World Series against The Big Red Machine. He had hits in 28 of 30 post-season games. Throughout the entirety of his stellar career, he averaged 1.09 hits per game, a statistic that speaks of his consistency.

Due to the rigors of their position, catchers must be compared to other catchers when determining how they stack up against the all-time greats. No one who knows baseball can say that Thurman Munson was not a dominant player in his era. His career speaks for its’ own greatness.

Thurman Munson should be in the Hall Of Fame!