Mickey Mantle

Well I had a MLB player tell me a story about the Mick, well it is better off not repeated.

quote:

Originally posted by Dibble:
Well I had a MLB player tell me a story about the Mick, well it is better off not repeated.

Great post! Another breaking news story by andy!!

Well I was on a website forum with a guy who said he had an MLB player tell him a story about the Mick, but decided it was better off not repeated.

???

He was all that has been mentioned and had a charisma unmatched by players of that time.

However, he was a big time alcoholic and I don't think his lifestyle would have made him a success in today's world of baseball.

JMO

Mick was not doing anything back in his days that players are not doing right now. Only diffence the press did not report about that stuff when Mick was playing.

Mantle was a five tool player! The best in his day. My best memory of the " Mick" was him hitting homeruns from both sides of the plate in the same game.
I also think that his lifestyle was no different than some of today's ballplayers!

Dibs, You think todays MLB players get pissdrunk on a regular basis?

ALB...Saw him plenty of times when the Yankees had a weekend series starting on a Friday night in Chicago against the Sox. Single game Friday night; Saturday afternoon; and, Sunday DOUBLEHEADER.

He was as good as anyone that ever put on a baseball uniform.

Beenthere, Amen

The HBO presentation "Mantle" is a must see for baseball fans. There is some great old home movie footage of the Yankees from the 50's and 60's.

Mickey was my childhood hero. I was lucky enough to be at the stadium for his 500th HR, his last 2 HR game, his last HR at the stadium and Mickey Mantle Day.

In the early 90's I would have parties at my house on October 20, usually a WS or playoff game was on. I would call it my Mickey Mantle Birthday Party with cake and ice cream and the house decorated for a Birthday Party, and I would even send an invitation to the Mick.

One year, my Brother was at a signing in early November and he was getting Mickey's autograph (which he gave me for X-mas). He jokingly mentioned to Mickey that we missed him at his Birthday Party. Mickey looked up at my brother and said he kept getting these weird invitations to a party in his honor but was never in the area to attend. I seriously doubt he ever considered it, but it made me feel great just the same.

I think Billy Crystal said it best when discribing his physical talents. "If you want to build a baseball player from scratch, just give me him (Mickey Mantle), just give me another one of those."

I was sitting in Yankee stadium last Friday night thinking what it must have been like in New York in the mid 1950's. Go to the Polo Grounds and watch Willie Mays, go to Ebbets Field and see Duke Snider, and then to Yankee Stadium for Mickey Mantle.
I for one love the Ken Burns series, especially the 50's and 60's and now love the fact that there are several books and TV specials recreating those times. While none, to me, capture the people and the times as well as the Boys of Summer, maybe that is also because Pee Wee Reese was my favorite player. Being 10 years old and living in Montana, I never knew he was such a supporter of Jackie Robinson. To me, the image I have of the accomplishments of these players is becoming even more vivid, not because I am aging(which I am), but because I think I better understand the environment at the time compared to the environment of today.

D*** Yankees!

When I was just a kid my dad took me to see the Yankees play the Washington Senators in DC. I saw Mickey my baseball hero hit a solo hr and a ground rule dbl. It still ranks as one of my fondest baseball memories. I watched the special last night and it was really good.

I hope the youngsters today feel for their heros the way I feel about Mickey. I have had the opportunity to meet many great baseball players in my life, and have been fortunate enough to play with a few of them, but there were two guys that made me clam up and stutter when I had the chance to meet them. Koufax and the Mick were and are my heros, and I have taped anything and everything that has been on TV about them.
In 1963, a couple of pals and myself slept in a line outside Dodger Stadium to get tickets to games 4 and 5 of the World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees.We were 16 years old at the time. We then walked into Dodger Stadium, as it was an off day and watched both teams take BP. No cops or security to stop us or bother us, and we saw the Mick hit two balls over the right field pavillion in BP and got all the autographs too. We went to game 4 and saw Koufax beat the Yanks, but Mick hit a home run into the left field bleachers about 30 feet from us. The ticket for the 5th game is still in my scrapbook, because the Dodgers beat the Yankees 4 straight. The tickets cost $4 dollars each, but watching Koufax pitch against the Mick was priceless.

Classic posts Thanks.

My greatest baseball memory of Mickey Mantle was a game he didn't start towards the end of his career. Mickey's legs were shot. The osteomyelitis he contracted as a kid along with his injuries were taking Mickey out of the game. It was the ninth inning, two out, man on first and the Yanks down two runs. The on deck batter was Hector Lopez was on deck. The Yanks were pretty much a shadow of the great teams that I grew up watching but they were the Yanks. The count went to three and one. Lopez left the on deck circle. The next pitch was a swing and a miss. Suddenly as if in unison, the stadium gasped as if Santa walked into the stadium. A guy walked out towards the on deck circle and when he kneeled down on one knee, that number 7 was obvious to everyone. The place went wild. Before the next pitch the whole place went into a chant of Mick key, Mick key over and over again. The air was filled with possibility again. The chants rolled when the batter walked bringing Mantle to the plate. With each pitch we knew that Mickey could do it. We cheered him on as if to give him our energy. Mick key, Mick key! He swung that great swing. Strike. Tooked two balls. The cheers were as loud as they started. Mick key , Mick key! Strike two. We all cheered louder because Mickey needed us. Mick key, Mick key! THe pitch, a big swing and strike three. We gasped, fell silent but then began our cheers as if Mantle had homered. Mickey may not have come through,but we were happy that he gave it his all as he always did when he put on the uniform.

WillieBobo,

That sounds like a classic retelling of "Mighty Casey"

Judge Not That Ye Be Judged

Mickey Mantle was not the image of social grace and decorum. As a 19 year old, he was playing for the Yankees and traveling the country with some soo to be Hall of Famers. He did what they did. He drank after games. He got into stupid situations as most drunks do. Being 19, he was taught that this is what you do when you play for the Yanks. He just didn't have the self control needed to walk away from the bar at a reasonable time. Maybe he was an alcoholic. Maybe he found solace in the booze and comraderie of the bar. He was a kid away from home. He was from Oklahoma and now in the biggest city in the world at that time. Considering that most young kids who come here never last, Mickey made it somehow. He excelled at his position and was a joy to watch.

Next time you see a bunch of drunken college kids acting stupid, picture Mantle. He just never got out of the lifestyle.

In the mid eighties in Central Park while watching my girlfriend at the time playing softball, an older guy came and sat to watch the game. He seemed like a nice guy. He mentioned that he loved coming to the park to watch people play. I asked him if he ever played ball. He said that he did and he loved the game. I told him that my favorite team was the Yanks and he mentioned that he played for them 'for a while'.
Figuring he was either pulling my leg or some guy who was up for a cup of coffee, I asked what position he played. He said center field. All the while our attention was interspersed with cheering on the girls playing. I told him that I followed the yanks fairly well over the years. He must have not gotten much game. He said that he played every day and that he was there in the 50's and 60's. I couldn't place him. So I asled his name, he said 'Mickey Mantle'. My jaw dropped. After talking with this guy for a half hour at least, here I was watching softball and drinking beer in Central Park with my hero. I was so shocked that I said'I can't believe this'. He misunderstood me thinking that I didn't believe it was him. The poor guy was offerring to show me his drivers'license to prove it. He thought I was upset with him and didn't believe him. As I turned to clear my head from the amazement that I was feeling, he folded up his beach chair and left quietly. I never noticed him leave. When my amazement wore off, he was gone.

I didn't see where he went to apologize to him for giving him the wrong impression, but I never saw him again. He was the humblest guy I ever met. He just sat in Central Park with his beach chair when he needed a break from his restaurant on 59th street.

My hero, and I pretty much chased him away.

As much as I was in awe of Mickey mantle the ball player, I was more in awe that a man who was loved and almost worshipped by millions could be so hunble and soft spoken.

As a college student in Gainesville (UF)I met the Mick and Roger Maris in my local watering hole "Alan's Cubana". Won't ever forget it!!!

Mickey's first season with the Yankees was 1951. After a terrific spring training in Arizona (the Yankees, who regularly trained in Florida, traded spring training camps with the NY Giants), Casey Stengel talked owners Del Webb and Dan Topping, and General Manager George Weiss, into signing Mantle. He even convinced them to pay Mantle a $7,500 salary, $2,500 above the minimum.

Imagine how much he would be getting today. Here's a great Mickey mantle site


http://www.themick.com/

When I do the word association thing it goes something like this:

Water - Ocean
Car - Mustang

Baseball - Mickey Mantle.

I dont think that will ever change.

Such a talent and yet, the perfect example of human frailty. When those knees started to go, he gave what was left in that body to try and play. I remember him giving his speech that he just couldn't perform anymore.

I think a different glimps of The Mick was gained by me when I read Ball Four. Yet, he performed for so long.

Even our Idols are human and so...