Mickey Mantle

Baseball Player

• Born: October 20, 1931
• Birthplace: Spavinaw, Oklahoma
• Died: August 13, 1995
• Place of death: Dallas, Texas

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Mickey Charles Mantle was born on October 20, 1931, in Spavinaw, Oklahoma. His parents, Elvin Clark Mantle and Lovell Richardson Mantle, were both natives of Oklahoma. Life was hard during the Great Depression. After working for a time as a tenant farmer, Elvin Mantle moved his family to Commerce, a small, dreary town in northeastern Oklahoma, about twenty miles from Joplin, Missouri, to take a job as a shoveler in the zinc mines.

In Commerce, Mickey attended school. Aside from his family, Elvin Mantle’s great love was baseball; despite his many hours of toil in the mines, he still made time to practice with his son Mickey, the oldest of five children, teaching him to be a switch-hitter.

The Road to Excellence

By the time Mickey was twelve, he often walked two or three miles with his best friends to play for a sandlot team in Dauthat, Oklahoma. Osteomyelitis—a serious bone infection—in his leg, threatened Mickey’s hopes for a career in sports when he was only fifteen. Although the infection was eliminated with the then-new miracle drug, penicillin, Mickey always had to worry about the chance of the infection returning. For that reason, his draft board later ruled him ineligible for military service during the Korean War.

In 1947, a New York Yankees’ scout, Tom Greenwade, spotted Mickey playing on an amateur team, the Whiz Kids, in Baxter Springs, Kansas, and was impressed with his hitting ability and his blazing speed. On the day he graduated from high school in 1949, Mickey accepted Greenwade’s offer of $400 to play a season of Class D baseball for the Yankees’ Independence, Kansas, farm team.

The next year, Mickey moved up one notch to the Yankees’ Joplin, Missouri, farm team in Class C. There Mickey became a sensation. Now nearly 5 feet 11 inches and 170 pounds, Mickey hit .383 and showed tremendous power, which he attributed to strong shoulders and wrists; he believed his strength had come from milking cows during the two years his family had lived on a farm while he was in his early teens. His one weakness seemed to be in fielding; he played shortstop, but his Joplin manager believed his future would be as an outfielder.

The Emerging Champion

Mickey worked in the mines during the off-season and then went to spring training with the Yankees in 1951, skipping over several levels of minor-league baseball. Hitting above .400 in spring training games, Mickey opened the season in right field for the Yankees. Despite hitting one of the tape-measure home runs of about 500 feet for which he became famous, Mickey struck out so often that his playing time was reduced.

In July, he was sent to the AAA Kansas City Blues. He thought of quitting baseball. Chastised by his father, Mickey quickly broke out of his slump and rejoined the Yankees in time to open the 1951 World Series in right field.

During the off-season, Mickey married his high school sweetheart, Merlyn. They had four sons: Mickey, Jr., David, Billy, and Danny.

Continuing the Story

In 1952, Mickey replaced the great Joe DiMaggio in center field. Replacing a legend was not easy. The media added to the pressure by describing Mickey as the fastest player and the hardest hitter in baseball, creating enormous expectations of him. Mickey—who had persevered through a tough upbringing—came through brilliantly. During his first fourteen years with the Yankees, Mickey helped the team to twelve World Series and set an all-time record by hitting 18 home runs in series competition. In the regular season, he hit more than 50 home runs twice and 40 or more two other times, and batted .300 or more ten times. In 1956, he won the American League’s triple crown.

During his first few seasons with the Yankees, Mickey developed bad habits off the field; he was a heavy drinker. He could have ruined his life and career, but after a driving accident in which his wife narrowly escaped a serious injury, he realized the harm drinking could bring.

In 1963, he signed his first $100,000 contract, a huge salary then, but his peak years were coming to an end. The leg injuries that had always troubled him became more frequent. By 1965, his career began going downhill; he shifted to first base in 1967. Mickey played his final game in September, 1968, worked out briefly just before spring training in 1969, and retired. In 1974, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Mickey and his family made their permanent home in Dallas, Texas. After retiring, he briefly tried broadcasting but found that he was most successful in public relations. He represented companies at charitable dinners and celebrity golf tournaments. Mickey continued to struggle with alcohol, and in 1994, he checked into the Betty Ford Clinic. The following year, he underwent a liver transplant operation, but his health did not last. Mickey died of cancer on August 13, 1995, in Dallas. He was sixty-three. In 1999, Mickey was selected for Major League Baseball’s All-Century Team.

Summary

Enduring the pain that two bad knees caused him throughout his major-league career, Mickey Mantle was a marvelous all-around ball player. Although the playing style of the 1950’s did not emphasize base-stealing, he ran the bases well, ranged all over Yankee Stadium’s large center field, hit for average, and batted with more power than any other switch-hitter in the history of baseball. At a time when other outfield immortals such as Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, and Roberto Clemente were having their peak seasons, Mickey ranked second to none.

Bibliography

Castro, Tony. Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2002.

Golenbock, Peter. Seven: The Mickey Mantle Novel. Guilford, Conn.: Lyons Press, 2007.

Hall, John G. Mickey Mantle: Before the Glory. Leawood, Kans.: Leathers, 2005.

Liederman, Bill, and Maury Allen. Our Mickey: Cherished Memories of an American Icon. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2004.

The New York Times Company. Sultans of Swat: The Four Great Sluggers of the New York Yankees. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2006.

Pepe, Phil. Magic Moments: Yankees. Chicago, Ill.: Triumph Books, 2007.

Swearingen, Randall. A Great Teammate: The Legend of Mickey Mantle. Champaign, Ill.: Sports, 2007.