NEW YORK _ Forty years ago, on Aug. 2, 1979, an aircraft bearing the numbers NY15 crashed short of the runway at Akron-Canton Airport, about 50 miles south of Cleveland.
The pilot, Yankees captain Thurman Munson, could not be freed before the Cessna twin-engine turbojet burst into flames.
The news of the 32-year-old All-Star catcher's death stunned the baseball world and shattered his teammates.