MIAMI -- Don Mattingly was a New York Yankees minor-leaguer when Thurman Munson died in a plane crash on Aug. 2, 1979.
Munson was the Yankees' 32-year-old star catcher -- a seven-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, a two-time World Series champion and a former Rookie of the Year and American League MVP.
The Miami Marlins, the team Mattingly now manages, suffered a horrific tragedy of their early own early Sunday morning when 24-year-old pitcher Jose Fernandez -- already a two-time All-Star -- died in a high-speed boat crash.
Mattingly said he can see the correlation to what the Yankees lost in Munson and what the Marlins lost in Fernandez.