Future Cloudy For Park Named After Munson

Sadness seems to hang in the hazy skies above Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, the minor-league ballpark named for a working-class town’s favorite son.

After the Canton-Akron Indians take the field for the final time Monday, it’s uncertain when or if the sounds of baseball will fill the stadium again.

The Double-A Eastern League team plays its final game in Canton on Labor Day. Next season, the Indians will play in a new stadium in Akron, yet another of the picturesque parks that are springing up in minor league towns all over the country.

But the thought of a stadium built for Munson, the star New York Yankees catcher, sitting idle and forgotten and overgrown with weeds is too much for some to take.

“I was a big fan of Thurman Munson’s,” Canton-Akron manager Jeff Datz said. “I liked the way he played. I thought about him more than a few times as I drove here to the ballpark.”

Munson made it to the big leagues on heart and grit rather than flash. With his curly hair, furry mustache and stubbly beard, Munson looked like he belonged at a construction yard or assembly line instead of a baseball diamond.

Munson died in a plane crash Aug. 2, 1979, at age 32. In 11 years in the majors, he batted .292. He had a .373 World Series average and won two championships with the Yankees.

His family still lives in Canton, where some folks came up with the idea of dedicating a baseball stadium in Munson’s memory. So Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium was built in 1989 as the home of the Cleveland Indians’ Double-A affiliate.

Now, the team is moving to a $30 million, 8,500-seat ballpark about 20 miles away. Those who favor the move say they saved the team from moving much farther. The team was much easier to save than Munson Stadium.

“I think they were talking about a girls softball league playing here,” Gary Erdos of North Canton said.

For all its flaws, the stadium stands as a town’s proud tribute to Munson. The residents paid for it, without help from the government. There are lots of memories, like the Indians’ 1992 Eastern League championship.