Marty Appel is the behind-the-scenes Mr. Yankee. He was the PR guru for the Yankees back in the 1970s, and you’ve seen him in Yankeeographies and anywhere else a Yankee expert is needed.
He was around the team for Thurman Munson’s whole career, and to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Munson’s tragic death, he’s just written a book about the former Yankee catcher, Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain (Doubleday), which will be released on July 7th.
Appel was friends with Munson, and his insights into the grouchy, yet lovable Yankee are far-reaching and detailed, including a minute-by-minute account of The Captain’s fateful last flight.
He interviewed Munson’s siblings and former teammates, and Appel was a first-hand witness to the Munson era.
After his PR days with the Yanks ended, Appel moved on to produce Yankee broadcasts on WPIX, start his own PR firm, write countless books, including co-writing Munson’s autobiography in the late '70s, and was an executive producer of the mini-series The Bronx Is Burning.
I asked Marty Appel a few questions about Munson and his days working for the Yankees.
Interview
Jeff Freier: We’ll start with some questions about Thurman Munson. Tell us something about him that would surprise everybody.
Marty Appel: I think people would be surprised to know he was never on the disabled list, not once—at a very physically demanding position, which he played hard.
JF: What are your memories of the first time you met Munson? Was he as gruff and grouchy as an up-and-coming player as he was as an established star?
MA: He had a certain poise for a minor league player. He had come up from Binghamton to play a game in Yankee Stadium, and we all flocked to him because he was our No. 1 draft pick. And you could sense something special there. He “had it.”
JF: What did you learn about him in writing this book that you didn’t know beforehand?
MA: The details of his tough childhood, the loveless home environment [and] the fact that he didn’t want his baseball coach dropping him off at home in case his father was outside.
JF: What were Thurman’s feelings about Reggie Jackson before the Sport article came out? Was he against Jackson’s signing from the beginning?
MA: He urged George Steinbrenner to sign Reggie; he knew power in the No. 4 spot was missing in the lineup. He was an advocate to bring him to the Yankees.
JF: What would he make of today’s sports blogging revolution and today’s modern players, epitomized by Alex Rodriguez, and their emphasis on branding and marketing themselves and posing as opposed to just playing baseball?
MA: He would have hated the blogs, the close examination of his game by fans being posted for all to see. It might have made him appreciate the mainstream media, though, at least a little more. He wouldn’t have been very much into personally marketing himself, but if something came along, he’d take it.
JF: What player on today’s Yankees would he admire the most?
MA: He would have admired his successor as captain, Derek Jeter, for sure. And his successor as catcher, Jorge Posada. He would have liked the way they both play tough and clean, respect the game, [and] study all aspects of it.
JF: How accurate was his portrayal in The Bronx Is Burning?
MA: Erik Jensen did a wonderful job in capturing Munson and made his character come alive again for a whole new generation of fans. He nailed it.
JF: How would you describe what made him special to today’s fans who never saw him play?
MA: The fans knew that what you saw was what he was—a guy who played hard and true, took no prisoners, played with honor and respect, and didn’t really care what the media thought of him. And the fans saw past the media and loved the guy for the kind of baseball he played.
JF: Let’s move on to your career with the Yankees. You were there at the beginning of the George Steinbrenner era. What was it like working for him, and did he ever ask you to bring him a calzone?
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