The great New York Yankee Mickey Mantle was born on this day in 1931.

Ten Notes On Mickey Mantle

1.He was named Mickey for the great Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane by his father Mutt Mantle. Later in life Mickey would say he was glad that his father didn’t know Mickey Cochrane’s real first name, Gordon. He said he would have hated being called Gordon all his life. Mantle grew up near Commerce, Oklahoma where his father worked in the lead and zinc mines.

 

 

2. Mickey’s father Mutt was a baseball nut. He taught Mickey from an early age to be a switch-hitter. Mickey Mantle would become the greatest switch-hitter in baseball history. Sadly, Mutt Mantle would die at the age of 39 in 1952 right at the start of Mickey’s major league career. He is also credited with turning Mickey around when he was in the minor leagues and struggling, wanting to quit. The Mantle men would die at young ages and Mickey lived his life accordingly. He didn’t take care of himself because he figured he would die young, why bother.

 

3. Mickey Mantle played his entire career with the New York Yankees from 1951-1968. He was a 20 time All-Star. 3 time MVP Award, he won the Triple Crown in 1956. The Yankees retired his #7. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.

 

 

4. Mickey Mantle’s career batting average was .298. He hit 536 home runs, 1509 RBI’s. He has the record by the way of walk off home runs with 13 tied with Jim Thome. Mickey Mantle also didn’t just hit home runs he hit tape measure home runs. Some of those home runs still may not have landed. In my lifetime as a fan the two guys I think of when I long long home run are Mantle and Willie Stargell.

 

 

5. When you think of World Series heroes you have to think of Mickey Mantle. He was a monster in World Series play. He holds the following World Series records- 18 home runs, 40 RBI’s, 43 bases on balls, 26 extra base hits and 123 total bases. Mantle played in 12 World Series and the Yankees won 7 of the 12.

 

 

6. Much has been made of Mickey Mantle’s partying and carrying on but from most accounts he was a great teammate, very well liked, one of the boys. The stories of Mickey and his gang of friends out running around are legendary. I don’t know how he had the career he had with the fast life he led.

 

 

 

7. The 1951 injury that Mantle suffered as a 19 year old changed his entire career. He was one of the fastest players ever up to that injury. Following that injury it was a series of one injury after another. They didn’t have the medical procedures etc  back then that we have today. Mantle played his entire career on a torn ACL that was never fixed. He was one of the greatest players ever as is, imagine the guy stays injury free and takes care of himself. A lot of the scouts and old baseball men who saw the young prospect Mickey Mantle say he was the greatest baseball prospect that they had ever seen.

 

 

8. Mickey Mantle had to be the most popular baseball player of the 1950’s and 1960’s. For most of those seasons the Yankees were the team and Mantle was the man. There was a fun loving, easy going way about him. Most boys in America wanted to grow up to be Mickey Mantle.

 

 

9. I was too young to have much of a memory of Mantle as a player. He retired before the 1969 season. I saw him a couple times on the Game of the Week.  I did see him after he retired at an Old Timer’s Game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh when I was 8 or 9. My memory of that evening, two things, one Casey Stengel was there and I was watching him. He wasn’t signing autographs but was shaking hands with people. I thought Casey had to be about as old as God. My other memory is a liner hit to centerfield. Mick ran in on the ball, it was over his head. Inside the park home run. {It was 1960 Pirates vs 1960 Yankees in the Old Timer’s Game}

 

 

10. Mickey’s finest moment I think came before his death. You knew the man was near the end just looking at him. He looked awful. In the interview he said to the youth of America- “Don’t be like me”  There was something about Mickey Mantle that people would always forgive him for his mistakes. Even his family which he didn’t always treat very well. It was a sad day when Mickey died.  A great read is the recent book by Jane Leavy “America’s Last Boy”