Fantastic New York Yankees payroll check, 7.5 x 3.5, filled out in another hand and made payable to Thurman Munson for $186,096.23, January 1, 1979, endorsed on the reverse in black ballpoint by Munson, "Thurman L. Munson, Deposit in Account only, 018 59548, United National Bank, Canton, Ohio." Handsomely double-matted and framed with a full-length photo of Munson to an overall size of 14.75 x 23; the front of the check is displayed, with a window in the backing for viewing Munson's endorsement. In fine condition.
This check represents a massive payment to Munson at the beginning of 1979—the final year of his life, in which he was due to be paid a salary of $375,000. Munson had renegotiated his contract a year earlier, making it a 'no cut,' guaranteed money deal, with the following caveat: 'Should Player suffer death or injury which significantly impairs his baseball skill as a direct result of engaging in automobile or motorcycle racing, fencing, parachuting, skydiving, boxing, wrestling, karate, judo, football, basketball, skiing or ice hockey, Club shall be released of its obligations.' His airplane-flying hobby is notably absent from this list of risky activities, which was a specific point of negotiation.
The New York Times column, 'Thurman Munson Was Proud Captain of the Yankees,' published one day after the New York catcher's death in a plane crash on August 3, 1979—a mere eight months after cashing this check—sheds some light on the circumstances surrounding Munson's last contract: 'When Munson signed a four‐year contract in the spring of 1976, he said the team's principal owner had promised that no player other than Catfish Hunter would earn more money than he. However, after the Yankees signed Reggie Jackson as a free agent in November 1976, Munson asked to have his salary raised to Jackson's level and Steinbrenner denied having made the promise. Their battle lasted for more than a year, finally being resolved in the last week of spring training in 1978. An integral part of the negotiations concerned Munson's flying. 'Thurman wanted it to be up‐front that he flew and that it was very important to him,' [his lawyer, Richard] Moss related. 'I think George understood that it was important to Thurman.' Most guaranteed contracts that exist in baseball today have clauses absolving the team of paying the remainder of the contract if the player is killed while flying a plane himself. Munson's contract, which averaged $420,000 a year and had two more years to run after this one, had no such restricting clause.'
On Munson's death, the New York Yankees honored their captain by immediately retiring his uniform number 15, and dedicating a plaque to him in Monument Park.
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