C.A.: 2023 Topps Stadium Club Thurman Munson

 (I was in the middle of writing this post yesterday, beginning with how March is trying to kill me again, when a fire truck came down the street and knocked out our internet by pulling down the cable wire in front of our home that had been hanging low due to a giant tree limb that fell on it during a windstorm last weekend that I didn't get time to tend to because I had to have my vehicle windshield replaced due to an unrelated mishap and because of a doctor's visit that became a whole week-long thing because I'm old and because it's the busiest damn work week of the entire year as well. So, um, no post yesterday. But I'M STILL ALIVE, you piece of shit month ... but still 15 days to go. It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 335th in a series):

I finally acquired this card from 2023 Stadium Club.

I've seen it displayed several times since Stadium Club's release almost two months ago. It's one of those cards that's cool and I've thought about adding it to my Dodgers binders for obvious reasons but I probably won't.

 

I won't because it marks the first moment of major disappointment in my history of being a fan, an indication that maybe your team doesn't get the calls and maybe the Yankees always get the calls.

 

That's probably not an accurate perception but it certainly was the feeling at the time. The 1977-78 World Series was filled with "whatever they need" moments for the Yankees and deflation and misfortune for the Dodgers. I was too young to stay up for Game 1 of the 1977 World Series (kids went to bed a lot earlier then), but I do remember hearing about this play afterward.

 

It was a controversial call. It happened in the top of the sixth inning with the Dodgers ahead 2-1. Steve Garvey, who had bunted his way on base, was trying to score with two outs on an opposite-field hit by Glenn Burke. Probably not the wisest send by third base coach Preston Gomez, but images show that Garvey was likely safe at home.

 

He was called out by umpire Nestor Chylak, who was completely out of position to make the call (I can only imagine the uproar today if an ump was caught wandering on a home-plate call). I love Tom Seaver's reaction to the play on the telecast, referring to Chylak: "He's up the line! WHERE IS HE?" Howard Cosell offers his approval, saying "That's telling it like it is."

 

This blurry screen capture shows that it might be tough for Thurman Munson to reach Steve Garvey before Garvey reaches the plate. It also shows Chylak preparing to make his call after a trip to the concession stand.

Garvey maintained after the game that Munson tagged him on the leg, on the calf or above, which would indicate Garvey had reached the plate by then. Munson is shown hugging Garvey's leg with the ball in shots of the play's aftermath.

It's not clear-cut but the Dodgers had a point and the Yankees would go on to win in extra innings and I was disappointed the next day and that was the beginning of a whole bunch of ugliness for the next 45-plus years. But that's being a fan. (Due to me being young and not seeing the game originally, I thought this play happened in the wee hours of extra innings, not mid-game).

Until this game, the Yankees weren't the baddies that they'd become for me. I think I started rooting against them during the 1977 season, that's when I first got to know their clashes with the Red Sox and we were kind of Red Sox household. Players like Reggie Jackson and Lou Piniella helped that year. But the prior season, I rooted for the Yankees to beat the Reds in the '76 World Series, though I was even younger and didn't see much of it and hardly know anything about teams.

So, yeah, this card will go in the stack of interesting 2023 Stadium Club cards I own. For other reasons I haven't bought any Stadium Club this year. I'm certainly not doing this with the card either. One is sufficient to remind me of the pain. And remind me of being a fan.

A prompt on Twitter, showing the card, asked "safe or out?" One person, a Yankees fan to be sure, said: "Out and hurt feelings." Oh yeah, that sounds like someone I grew up with, one of dozens of Yankees fans who surrounded me and wouldn't hear a peep of dissent.

My answer to the prompt?