Tino Martinez, Howard Johnson, Anne Gregory-O'Connell honored with Thurman Munson Awards
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Yankee Tino Martinez, former Met Howard Johnson and Fordham women's basketball career scoring and rebounding leader Anne Gregory-O’Connell were honored with Thurman Munson Awards on Thursday night at the AHRC New York City Foundation's annual dinner.
Martinez won four World Series titles with the Yankees from 1996-2001, part of a 16-year big league career in which he hit .271 with 339 homers and 1,271 RBIs for Seattle (1990-95), the Yankees (1996-2001, 2005), St. Louis (2002-03) and Tampa Bay (2004).
Johnson won a World Series title with the 1986 Mets. He batted .249 with 228 homers and 760 RBIs in 14 seasons with Detroit (1982-84), the Mets (1985-93), Colorado (1994) and the Chicago Cubs (1995).
Gregory-O’Connell scored 2,584 points with 1,999 rebounds from 1976-80, and also is the Rams' career leader in blocked shots with 200. Her number 55 was retired in 2009 and she was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
She is the widow of Associated Press basketball writer Jim O'Connell, who died in 2018.
“We were good back then, and I think that would hold up even by today’s standards,” Gregory-O’Connell said during a news conference before the dinner. “The differences were we didn’t have a lot of money. We didn’t travel a lot. We didn’t have any gear. We didn’t have sneakers. We really didn’t have any of that, but we didn’t really know what we didn’t have.”
“It’s different in a lot of ways today, and I’m happy that it’s different, and it’s better in terms of all those things I just said.”
Named after the Yankees captain who died piloting a plane in 1979, the awards are given for success and inspiration on the field and for community spirit off the field. AHRC New York City assists people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
