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Cultivating from a Munson Facebook fan site, the Army is recruiting volunteers to sign a petition and to lobby the 11 writers who make up the Hall historical review committee.
That committee meets this summer to nominate 10 former players, whose careers were largely from 1970 to 1987. Those 10 then get forwarded to the 16 members of the Modern Baseball Committee in December, where 12 votes (75 percent) are required for induction.
Mike Munson, who operates Tugboat's Pub (named for one of his dad's many nicknames) at Canton's Meadowlake Golf Course, said he reads the Thurman Munson Fan Club Facebook page almost every day. Sometimes, though, he has to pull away because he becomes too emotional. He was only 4 years old when his dad died.
Diana Munson said the family is thrilled and honored by the push to get her late husband into the Hall. But she knows the family is biased by their love for the man who regularly flew home to Canton during the season to spend more time with them.
"I believe he should be in, but I'm speaking with my heart so I probably don't count," she said.
She's proud of Thurman's career; proud of how he visited children in the hospital outside of the media's eyes; proud of the annual New York City dinner in her husband's name, which so far has raised $17 million for children and adults with developmental disabilities; proud of the husband she knew, the Yankees' captain who cried when he opened the World Series trophy sent to him by team owner George Steinbrenner.
"Thurman always did things from his heart," she said.
The best Yankees teams were from 1976 to 1978, a period referred to as the Bronx Zoo, due to turmoil on and off the field. The Yankees were swept by the Reds in the 1976 World Series, despite Munson's .529 average. However, they returned to beat the Dodgers in the 1977 World Series and again in 1978.
Diana Munson said she remains close to some wives and players from those great teams her husband captained.
"Ron Guidry (a Yankees pitcher) was like Thurman's little brother," she said. "Whenever we get together ... he's always watching over me, making sure I'm OK ... he must be saying to Thurman, 'I got it.' I always say 'Ron, I'm a big girl now.' But that's just Ron. He and (his wife), Bonnie, are the nicest people you'll ever meet."
Lou Piniella, who missed by one vote in joining Baines for Hall enshrinement this summer, was a Yankee teammate. He sometimes flew with Munson when he came home to visit his family.
"He had this gruff exterior, but he was a teddy bear," said Piniella, who went on to manage in the major leagues for more than 20 years after his playing days.
Piniella said he'd love to see Munson in the Hall.
"I'm thoroughly convinced that if he'd (not died young), he'd be Hall of Fame material for sure," he said. "He was a leader, a clutch hitter and he called an impeccable game ... pitchers loved him."
Those Yankees teams of the late-1970s were loaded with the likes of Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles and Chris Chambliss. If the Yankees needed a clutch base hit to win a game, Piniella said, there two players on the team he wanted to see at the plate.
"I wanted either myself or Thurman up," Piniella said.
As a son, Mike Munson always believed his dad belonged in the Hall. He also knew his dad hadn't compiled the conventional career numbers normally required. But these days, advanced sabermetrics, such as WAR (Wins Above Replacement), have been developed as a way to measure the complete value of a ballplayer.
And Thurman Munson fares well.
His 10-year WAR rating from 1970 to 1979, basically his entire career, was 45.6. That's seventh all-time among catchers. The first six — Gary Carter, Johnny Bench, Mike Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez, Yogi Berra and Mickey Cochrane — all are among the 329 Cooperstown enshrinees.
"Old-timers would say my dad was great leader, a clutch hitter," Mike Munson said. "But you can't measure that. I'd always thought analytics were a problem for him getting in ... until now."
Thurman's Army also points to a "Cooperstown Justice" segment on Munson last summer on the Major League Baseball TV network. Studio host Brian Kenny used modern metrics to build a case, while comparing Munson to great catchers of the past.
Kenny closed with this: "Thurman Munson should get renewed consideration for the Hall of Fame."
Marty Appel may have known Thurman Munson as well as anyone. He worked in the Yankees public relations department from 1968 to 1977. Appel then went into sports management and wrote 16 books on baseball, including two on Munson.
"Nothing would make me happier, if he were to get in," Appel said.
But don't expect Appel to campaign for it.
"I know all these groups kind of look for me to do that ... " Appel said before explaining that he has equal respect for Munson and the Hall of Fame voters and process.
Appel said baseball writers who watched and knew Munson best had 15 years to induct him into the Hall — and didn't.
Diana Munson said her husband had spoken some about a possible future in Cooperstown.
"He was always planning," she said. "Thurman also talked about managing too. He and Mr. Steinbrenner had talked about him managing one day ... he was being groomed."
Allan Blutstein, an attorney who specializes in public records, was an 11-year-old kid in New York when Munson died.
"It was such a devastating blow; baseball was my favorite sport and he was my favorite player," Blutstein recalled.
So, after years of blocking out that horrible memory, and now middle-aged, Blutstein embarked on a personal mission last year. He visited Munson's grave at Sunset Hills Burial Park in Jackson Township and placed a ball cap on top of the stone. He decided that he wanted to learn everything about how and why Munson died. And he did it the way he knows best — Blutstein reviewed public records.
He pored over a file from the Akron-Canton Airport. He tracked down civil court records at the National Archives; he spent several days reading in the federal courthouse in Akron. In the end, he looked at more than 15,000 pages related to Munson's crash and death.
"My aim was to not only get answers for myself, but to put it online, so others could get answers, too," Blutstein explained of his decision to post the records on a medium.com website.
Blutstein said he's rooting for Munson to get into the Hall.
But if it doesn't happen, that's OK too.
"He captured my heart; that's enough," Blutstein said.
The SFMTA Board is now considering whether to dramatically reduce the number of allowable pick-up and drop-off stops for private shuttles and buses that transport about 8,500 San Francisco residents to their workplaces outside the city each weekday.
Roughly 8,500 people in San Francisco catch a ride to work on one of those so-called “tech buses” – private commuter shuttles that transport employees to work daily. If you’re among them, get ready – your commute could soon be headed for some major changes.
On Tuesday, the SFMTA presented a new study to the agency's board members, which examined the possibility of dramatically reducing the number of allowable bus stops for private shuttles and buses.
Currently, tech buses can pick-up and drop-off riders from 125 designated stops throughout San Francisco. The study focused on four alternative strategies that would significantly reduce the number of stops to between one and 30, depending on the specific plan.
This private bus stop in San Francisco, along Van Ness Avenue, is one of 125 locations that permitted buses can use for a fee throughout the city to pick-up and drop-off employees.
Such a move would likely reduce the frequency of private commuter shuttles interfering with MUNI buses, according to the study, since 100 of the designated stops for private vehicles also double as public bus stops.
The biotechnology firm, Genentech, boasts that each of its private buses helps reduce traffic congestion by taking 120 cars off the road each day.
The study, however, also found that eliminating such a large number of stops could push 24 to 45 percent of riders to drive to work instead – increasing traffic and the risk of collisions for everyone.
An employee perk at some of the world’s most well-known tech companies is being blamed for slowing down San Francisco commuters, while also potentially putting them at risk of injury along the city's roadways. The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit obtained traffic records that reveal a growing problem that could put other commuters in danger. Bigad Shaban reports.
Earlier this year, the Investigative Unit exposed how private tech buses have committed hundreds of traffic violations in recent years. While private transportation companies operate the buses, they’re hired by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech firms like Facebook, Apple, and Google.
Use the interactive map below to locate the 125 private bus stops in San Francisco, as well as the locations for the more 800 citations issued to private commuter buses in 2014 and 2015. You can also click on each individual point on the map to learn more.
The SFTMA board will likely vote in March on whether to shrink the network of allowable stops for private buses.
Portland is certainly growing as a startup city, and now there’s a new batch of companies ready to make their mark in the Rose City.
The two-year-old Portland Seed Fund just graduated its fourth class of early-stage companies. The incubator, a unique public-private partnership supported by various government agencies and organizations, gave the startups $25,000 in capital to get their ideas off the ground in a TechStars-like three-month long bootcamp.
Alum.ni: Simple alumni websites aimed at the over 180,000 alumni and member organizations in the US from schools to fraternities to summer camps. Co-founder Edoe Cohe came up with the idea after attending a 2-hour workshop during his MBA to teach him how to use his alumni website.
Appthwack: Founded by two former Intel employees, Appthwack tests your mobile app across 100’s of devices from Android to iPhone’s in 10 minutes. Your other option — which quality assurance agencies and engineering teams do — is to buy hundreds of devices and test on each one individually.
Celly: Lets anyone create an instant social network called a “cell.” There are tons of issues with current networks from privacy to reputation management. Some ways Celly has been used: Classroom cells where teachers and students can communicate; search-and-rescue cells set up during Hurricane Sandy.
Indie Vinos: A Shazam-like mobile app that lets you buy a wine the exact moment you taste and fall in love with it. They want to connect the 46 million wine enthusiasts in the US directly with wineries.
Measureful: Over 70 percent of midsize businesses spend over 15 hours a month collecting mountains of marketing data. Measureful does this in five minutes and its proprietary algorithm sifts through all the data to find trends, anomalies and subtle changes that affect your bottom line, and beautifully presents the results.
Minetta Brook (Washington-based): An enterprise startup solving the issue of information overload with their product knewsapp that aims to bring hyper-relevant real time news impacting specific market positions; the news that you won’t find on Google.
Opal Labs: 70 percent of companies want social enterprise software, but only three percent report a social enterprise benefit. Opal Labs helps teams solve complex problems via social business software. Customers include Nike, NASA, Intel and BP.
PrestoBox: Small businesses have very few choices when it comes to branding and 47 percent of small businesses in a $125 billion market don’t have a website — think your local mom-n-pop store or doctor. Prestobox is the “world’s first automated brand in a box.” Answer 12 answers via their Brand Genie and they give a brand personality that includes logo, business card, and website templates.
RallyCause: Their app that lets you support your local small business, while also giving back to a cause. A portion of your purchase at a participating small business is donated to a cause.
Simple Emotion: Founded by two college undergrads, Simple Emotion created technology (patent filed) to help people with autism recognize emotions in speech: Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Fear. It’s over 90 percent accurate.
Smart Mocha: Making it easy for device manufacturers to make ordinary devices smart devices by providing a full-service platform for the Internet of Things. It’s a framework — both software and hardware — that allow you to create Internet connected devices quickly, securely and easily.
A team of assassins killed a prominent Saudi journalist inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkish police said.
The journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, was last seen inside the consulate on Oct. 2. Turkish officials said Khashoggi was killed on the premises and his body was then removed.
“Based on their initial findings, the police believe that the journalist was killed by a team especially sent to Istanbul and who left the same day,” an unnamed Turkish government official told AFP.
Police confirmed that around 15 Saudis, including officials, arrived in Istanbul on two flights on Oct. 2 and were at the consulate at the same time as Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post and a former Saudi government adviser who has been critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “did not come back out” of the building, police told the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Khashoggi lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since last year.
As walnuts are a rich source of alpha-linolenic acid — a healthy omega-3 fatty acid — it might improve diabetic neuropathy, which is a complication of diabetes that results in damaged nerves.
Filled with good fats, walnuts are wrinkly nuts shaped like the human brain. The fruit of the walnut tree, it grows in a hard shell, which when opened reveals the walnut. It is later split in two flat segments. Walnuts are usually eaten raw or roasted, depending on the taste of the person. While there are several other benefits of eating walnuts, it works wonders for diabetic patients.
ALSO READ | Know your food: What do the numbers stamped on your fruit mean?
Like all nuts, walnuts contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), but they are also a good source of the essential omega-3 fatty acids. They also contain iron, selenium, calcium, zinc, vitamin E and vitamin B, which help the body maintain an optimum nutritional level.
The Yale University School of Medicine Care explored the effects of walnut consumption on blood vessels for Type 2 diabetics in one of their studies. “Patients followed a diet with or without 56 grams of walnuts for eight weeks, and scientists found that the walnut group experienced improvements in the function of blood vessel lining compared to the non-walnut group,” the report read.
Cesar's, a popular Mexican restaurant with two locations in Boystown, was accused of discrimination again mid-September by a Chicago gay man, bringing the total number of alleged bias incidents at the eatery to three in as many weeks. The restaurant was accused of discriminating against a lesbian couple Aug. 31, and the following week, another Chicago lesbian reported an alleged bias incident she says occurred at Cesar's in May of 2002.
According to Pedro C., 26, sometime in May 2003 he and a platonic friend, also gay, decided to dine at Cesar's. Pedro told Windy City Times, 'I had been there before with groups of friends and always enjoyed myself, so I thought, let's go there.' According to Pedro, the men were seated in a corner of the restaurant between two large parties, even though it was a weeknight and the restaurant was not busy.
'We thought it was weird to be seated there, and we had to yell to hear each other because the other tables were noisy, so we asked the server if we could move to a different table.' The server, whom Pedro says treated him politely, declined his request. When Pedro and his friend Emmanuel protested further and pointed out the availability of more comfortable seating, 'out of nowhere' a short Latino male wearing a white shirt and apron burst out of the kitchen, snatched the menus from the men's hands and the placements from the table, and told them they 'had to go.' 'He was screaming so loud that everyone was noticing. I was so embarrassed,' said Pedro. As with the Aug. 31 allegation, Pedro says the man with the apron challenged both men to 'take it outside' as they prepared to leave.
On Aug. 31, lesbian partners Naomi Mendoza and Melissa Johns met friends at Cesar's for dinner. According to the women, when they began to stroke each other's faces affectionately, a man they described as a busboy approached and began to berate them, stating the two needed to 'behave ... this is a family restaurant.' When Johns asked for the man's name and his manager's name, he reportedly became irate, screaming that 'I'm in charge tonight, there is no manager, so get out!' The man then allegedly challenged Johns to a fistfight, at which point a female employee of the restaurant threatened to call the police to remove Mendoza and Johns while doing nothing to defuse the situation.
Later, lesbian Kathy Betts came forward to report an alleged incident in which Betts was verbally attacked by a busboy at Cesar's on May 14, 2002, after displaying physical affection to a friend. Betts was told to 'behave' and never to come back to the restaurant.
In an unsigned letter faxed to Windy City Times from Cesar's, apparent representatives of the restaurant stated they were 'shocked' by the events of Aug. 31; called it an 'isolated incident' and reiterated they do not discriminate; stated that 80% of their business is gay and lesbian; and claimed that Mendoza and Johns had consumed a great deal of alcohol and behaved in a 'promiscuous' manner, leading to a complaint from another table and forcing the restaurant to take action when the women 'totally ignored and gave bad attitude' toward Cesar's staff. The restaurant also faxed Windy City Times a separate letter written by a gay male couple who witnessed the Aug. 31 incident supporting the restaurant's version of events.
'We prefer to handle these things within the family,' Sanchez said. 'A lot of times when people are drinking, they blow things out of proportion. We don't want to make a big deal when it is not necessary. The bottom line is, we do not discriminate. Why would we do that? It doesn't make any sense—we understand where our business is located and how supportive gays and lesbians have been of our restaurant. We know how devastating it would be to our business if we discriminated against gays and lesbians.' He encouraged customers with complaints to go to www.killermargaritas.com .
According to Sanchez, Cesar's is a 'family-oriented' restaurant and has a policy of not permitting overt public displays of affection between couples. 'Holding hands would be OK, a kiss on the cheek is OK, but things like sitting on each other's laps, that is something we would probably ask the customer to stop doing.' Sanchez told Windy City Times that this policy has been in place at the restaurant 'for 15 years, and this is the first time anyone has complained.' He also says straight couples are routinely asked to tone down their public displays of affection while dining at Cesar's if the behavior is deemed 'out of hand,' in Sanchez's words.
The determination of what constitutes an inappropriate display of affection is, Sanchez admits, a gray area at the discretion of management on duty. 'This is a restaurant, not a bar,' Sanchez said, although he admits that Cesar's advertises itself as the home of the 'killer margarita' both on its storefronts and its Web site, an unusual advertising slogan for a family-oriented restaurant. Still, Sanchez is apologetic about the reported bias: 'Clearly (the alleged Aug. 31 bias incident) was mishandled on our part, and I apologize for employing someone who treated our customers poorly,' Sanchez said.
Indeed, the restaurant stated in its letter to Windy City Times that approximately 80% of its customers are from the gay community, thereby inferring that the vast majority of Cesar's customers are not traditional straight families with children.
Activists also point out that Israel Sanchez's explanation of a power-hungry new manager taking advantage of his position in the Aug. 31 incident does not adequately explain the actions of a female employee who threatened to call police on Johns and Mendoza; the alleged incident on May 14, 2002 involving Kathy Betts; or owner Cesar Sanchez's comment that he was the person who engaged with Johns and Mendoza on Aug. 31.
It is also unclear whether other neighborhood restaurants share the Sanchez family's interpretations of public decency: Windy City Times conducted a test in which a lesbian couple visited several Boys Town establishments and engaged in the same public displays of affection which led to incidents at Cesar's on Clark, including kissing on the lips and stroking of arms and faces. The lesbian couple conducting the test also engaged in additional actions slightly more provocative than those reported to have taken place at Cesar's. The establishments visited, including PS Bangkok on North Clark Street, Nookie's on Halsted, Thai Classic on North Clark Street, Ihop on Broadway and Grace, and the newly renovated Dunkin' Donuts on North Clark, did not ask the couple to tone down their displays of affection, even as small children milled happily with their parents at the Dunkin' Donuts. At a nearly empty PS Bangkok on Clark Street between Roscoe and Aldine, the restaurant owner engaged the women in a pleasant discussion about the economy, served the couple herself and welcomed them to return for subsequent visits.
According to Bill Greaves, the Mayor's GLBT liaison, consumers with bias complaints against any business may contact the Adjudication Division of the Commission on Human Relations at (312) 744-4111 to request a hearing, but he cautions the agency is already 'one year behind.' Greaves is unaware of any current complaints against Cesar's.
Mendoza and Johns, whose Aug. 31 complaint ignited the current controversy over Cesar's policies, want a public apology from the restaurant. 'They were wrong, and they need to admit that. Their employee totally freaked out, screamed at us, and wanted to fight me. Regardless of whether or not we violated one of their so-called rules, that's no way to treat a customer, and they know it. ... We were not drunk, and we were not promiscuous. This whole thing is their responsibility,' said Johns.
'If this is how they want to treat their customers they need to get out of business. It's appalling,' said Pedro C.
The federal government has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the banking sector and current attempts don't go far enough, Labor says.
Labor's financial services spokeswoman Clare O'Neil told the lower house on Wednesday that draft laws aiming to strengthen the powers of the corporate regulator cast a narrow net.
The legislation aims to ensure financial products are targeted and sold to the right customers, giving the Australian Securities and Investments Commission powers to intervene if this is breached.
Ms O'Neil said the legislation was under the microscope of a Senate inquiry, flagging amendments to the bill so credit cards and buy-now-pay-later financial services would be under ASIC's watch.
Afterpay, a leading business within the buy-now-pay-later sector, had asked to be included in the draft laws but were knocked back, the Labor MP said.
"We've got a provider of financial services asking to be put within these regulator powers, and the government is saying they're not interested."
The draft bill was a "watered down" version of the powers ASIC said it needed, Ms O'Neil added.
Columnist: The past can guide the present when it comes to national security.
After the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., late last year, one might have a powerful inclination to give a green light to government surveillance hoping that such surveillance would detect terrorist plots before more people are murdered. That inclination would be based on the assumption that government surveillance programs make us safe.
Unfortunately, no one outside the government can say that surveillance programs have actually helped disrupt terrorists because National Security Agency programs are classified, including how law-enforcement officials use NSA surveillance reports.
But still, those inside the government claim that surveillance programs are essential to protecting Americans at home and abroad. That was the position of NSA Director General Keith Alexander, who stated that unauthorized disclosure of the telephone metadata collection program in 2013 "caused 'significant and irreversible damage to our nation.'"
Many of us might feel a powerful inclination to trust Alexander. After all, he is trusted by the most senior of government officers to protect Americans.