Sport: The Pride of the Yankees

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On several occasions, Munson asked to be traded to the Indians so he could be closer to his wife Diane and their three children in Canton, 50 miles south of Cleveland. He became a pilot so that he could jet home just for the night after a game. Flying seemed to give him the inner peace he found elusive in the klieg light jungle of baseball. "You get up there," he said once, "and nobody asks you any questions."

Two weeks ago, Munson acknowledged that injuries would prevent him from remaining a catcher full time, but he said that he wanted to continue playing, mostly because of his son Michael, 4. "I want to play long enough for him to understand and appreciate what I have accomplished," he said. "If I have three or four more good years, I might have the kind of statistics that could get me in the Hall of Fame."