Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995) was
an American baseball player, regarded as one of the best of all time.
He played his entire professional career for the New York Yankees.
Career
Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma. He was named in honor of
Mickey Cochrane, the Hall of Fame catcher from the Detroit Tigers,
by his father, who was an amateur player and fervent fan. Apparently
his father was not aware that Cochrane's real name was Gordon, and
in later life, Mickey Mantle expressed great relief that his father
had not known Cochrane's real first name, as he would have hated to
be named Gordon. Mantle always spoke warmly of his beloved father and
said he was the bravest man he ever knew. "No boy ever loved his
father more" he said. Sadly, his father died of cancer at the
age of 39 just as his son was starting his career. Mantle said one
of the great heartaches of his life was that he never told his father
he loved him.
Mantle was an all-around athlete in school, playing basketball and football
in addition to his first love, baseball. It was his football playing
that nearly ended his athletic career, and indeed his life. Kicked in
the shin during a game, Mantle's leg soon became infected with osteomyelitis,
a crippling disease that would have been incurable just a few years earlier.
A midnight ride to Tulsa enabled Mantle to be treated with newly available
penicillin, saving his leg from amputation. He would suffer from the
effects of the disease for the rest of his life, and it would lead to
many other injuries that hampered his accomplishments. Additionally,
Mantle's osteomyelitic condition exempted him from military service,
a fact which caused him to become very unpopular with fans of the game
from his earliest days in baseball. This unpopularity, mainly with older
fans, would dramatically reverse after he finished second to Roger Maris
in the pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record in 1961. He spent the last
years of his career as a wildly popular icon of the entire sport.
"Mutt" Mantle taught his son how to be a switch-hitter. He
had played shortstop in the minor leagues, but on arrival at the Yankees,
he became the regular right fielder (playing only a few games at shortstop
and third base in 1952 to 1955). He moved to center field in 1952, replacing
Joe DiMaggio, who retired at the end of the 1951 season after one year
playing alongside Mantle in the Yankees outfield. He played center field
until 1967, when he was moved to first base. Among Mantle's many accomplishments
are all-time World Series records for home runs (18), runs scored (42),
and runs batted in.
Mantle also hit the longest measured home run ever in a major league
game. On September 10, 1960, he hit a ball that cleared the right-field
roof at Tiger Stadium in Detroit and, based on where it was found, was
estimated years after the fact to have traveled 643 feet. Another Mantle
homer at Griffith Stadium in Washington on April 17, 1953, traveled 565
feet from home plate to the spot it was retrieved by a local boy.
In 1956, Mantle won the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the
year. This was his "favorite summer," a year that saw him win
the Triple Crown, leading the majors with a .353 batting average, 52
HR, and 130 RBI on the way to his first of three MVP awards. Though the
American League Triple Crown has been won twice since then, Mantle remains
the last man to win the Major League Triple Crown.
On January 16, 1961, Mantle became the highest-paid baseball player
by signing a $75,000 contract.
On December 23, 1951, he married Merlyn Johnson in their hometown of
Commerce, Oklahoma; they had four sons. In an autobiography, Mantle said
he married Merlyn not because he loved her, but because his domineering
father told him to. The couple had been separated for 15 years when he
died, but neither ever filed for divorce. Mantle lived with his agent,
Greer Johnson. Johnson was taken to federal court in November 1997 by
the Mantle family to stop her from auctioning many of Mantle's personal
items, including a lock of hair, a neck brace and expired credit cards.
Mantle announced his retirement on March 1, 1969, and in 1974, as soon
as he was eligible, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; his
uniform number 7 was retired by the Yankees. (He had briefly worn uniform
number 6, as a continuation of Babe Ruth's 3, Lou Gehrig's 4, and Joe
DiMaggio's 5, in 1951, but his poor performance led to his temporary
demotion to a minor league in mid-season. When he returned, Bobby Brown,
who had worn number 6 before Mantle, had reclaimed it, so Mantle was
given number 7.) When he retired, the Mick was third on the all-time
home run list with 536. In 1983, Mantle took a job promoting an Atlantic
City casino, and was suspended from baseball by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
He would be reinstated in 1985 by Kuhn's successor, Peter Ueberroth.
Mantle's amazing hold on his fans was demonstrated by his position of
leadership in the memorabilia craze that swept the USA beginning in
the 1980's. Mantle was a prize guest at any baseball card show, commanding
fees far in excess of any other player for his appearances and autographs.
This popularity continues long after his death, as Mantle-related items
far outsell those of any other player except possibly the unmatched
Babe Ruth, whose items exist in far smaller quantities.
Mantle's last days
Mantle received a liver transplant on June 8, 1994, after his liver had
been damaged by years of chronic alcoholism, cirrhosis, and hepatitis
C. He spent time at the Betty Ford Clinic to kick the bottle for good.
Mantle spoke with great remorse of his drinking in a Sports Illustrated
article, "My Life In A Bottle". He admitted he had often been
cruel and hurtful to family, friends, and fans because of his alcoholism,
and sought to make amends. He became a born-again Christian due to his
former teammate Bobby Richardson sharing his faith with him.
Mickey Mantle died on August 13, 1995, at Baylor University Medical
Center in Dallas, after his liver cancer spread throughout his body.
He was interred in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas.
Mantle had asked country singer Roy Clark, his good friend, to perform
his favorite song "Yesterday, When I Was Young" at his funeral:
I lived by night
I shunned the light of day
And only now I see how the years slipped away
I ran so fast time and youth ran out
So many songs in me won't be sung
I now must pay for yesterday when I was young.
In eulogizing Mantle, Bob Costas described the legend as "a fragile
hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that
it defied logic."
He loved cherry pie and slept with his socks on inside out.
