Mickey Mantle | The Commerce Comet
Growing up, Mickey spent a lot of time playing baseball with his father, Charles “Mutt” Mantle and his grandfather. It was at a young age that he was taught to bat from both sides of the plate and depending on what arm the pitcher threw with, he would swing from the opposite side. Mickey’s father pitched right handed and Mickey would hit left handed while his grandfather pitched left handed, Mickey would hit from the right side of the plate. Mickey had considered himself a better right-handed hitter.
By the time that Mickey graduated in 1949, he was signed to a minor league contract for $140 a month and with a $1,500 signing bonus. At one point, he was playing for the Yankees’ Class D Independence Yankees of the Kansas Oklahoma Missouri League. He wanted to quit, but his father convinced him not too.
Later that same year, Mickey hit his first home run. The ball flew over the centre field wall. It was 450 feet from home plate. The following year, Mickey was promoted to the class C Joplin Minors of the Western Association. During that time, he had hit 26 home runs and a record 136 runs batted in making Mickey win the Western Association Batting title. It was also during this time that Mickey was struggling to play short stop.
In 1951, Casey Stengel who was the manager of the New York Yankees saw Mickey at a Yankees Instructional Camp and promoted the young player to play right field in the majors after showing impressive skills at the training camp. He struggled later in the season and was sent back down to the Yankees farm team and after some time at spring training, Mickey got his confidence back.
When Joe DiMaggio retired after the 1951 World Series, Mickey became the star player of the New York Yankees. At just 21 years old, Mickey had finished third in the MVP awards. He had only been playing for 2 years and was already becoming a favourite among Yankees fans.
The Yankees dominated baseball. Within the league were, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Phill Pizzuto and Whitey Ford. They were known to be players that went down in history. Despite an injury riddled career, Mickey put up impressive numbers. He played in 20 All Star games, led the league in home runs four times and hit .300 or better 10 times.
In 1952, the torch of the greatest ball player was passed to Mickey. Before he got that title, it was held by Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio. Mickey was the new kid in town and had a new generation of fans. He was someone everyone liked.
With the 1960s approaching, Mickey started to slow down. He wasn’t playing his best, but he wasn’t the worst. About half way through the 1959/1960 season, he wasn't playing much as he should be. The season started off great, but he started to lose power. It seemed like the Yankees’ rough season was rubbing off on their best player since the team wasn’t doing that great either. They finished third. The only good thing about that season was Mickey’s record in getting from home plate to first base in 3.1 seconds. It wasn’t a good year for Mickey or the Yankees.
When Babe Ruth was at the top of his game, his record at that time was 59 home runs in 1921. By 1927, he had beaten his own record by hitting 60 home runs in a single season. It was a record that was held for 34 years. Nobody would have guessed or known that the record the Yankees were proud of was going to be beat by a fellow Yankee.
During the 1961 season, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris known at the time as the “M and M Boys” were challenged to beat Babe Ruth’s record for the most home runs in a single season. The original record was 60 home runs, but the time that Ruth played, the season only had 154 games while in 1961 the season was extended to 162. There was a debate about if the record should be broken in the same amount of games or if the extended number of games gave the players a better chance of beating it since they had more games to hit more home runs.
Ford Frock who was a friend of Babe Ruth announced at a press conference that unless Ruth’s record as broken in the first 154 games of the season, the new record should be should separately in the “record books” with some "distinctive mark” next to it indication it had been done in a 162 game season. The asterisk mark was immediately suggested by New York Daily News sports writer. Dick Young.
Everyone wanted Mickey to beat Babe Ruth’s record. He was everyone’s golden child. Everyone wanted him to win. He was just a young man from Oklahoma, but Mickey struggled with constant injuries and was dealing with alcohol. There were times when Mickey would show up to games injured or hung over.
There was a family history of the men in his family dying young and he thought he was going to be one of them so he did everything he could thinking he wasn’t going to live a long life. He said that if he knew he would have lived as long as he did, he would have taken better care of himself. He later regretted the choices he made and the things he missed because of his drinking.
Mickey was right on track with being able to beat the record, but due to an infection that caused him to be hospitalized, he wasn’t able to continue.
In September of 1961, Mickey developed a hip infection that was caused by a contaminated "miracle shot" administered by Dr. Max Jacobson. Mickey described it as feeling like a "red hot poker".
Broadcaster Mel Allen recommended Dr. Max Jacobson (known as "Dr. Feelgood") to help Mantle recover from late-season fatigue and physical ailments during his historic home run chase with Roger.
The injection led to a severe, deep-seated bacterial infection and abscess that required hospitalization at Lenox Hill Hospital. Doctors had to lance the wound, leaving an open drainage hole the size of a golf ball.
The hospitalization ended Mickey's active pursuit of Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record, leaving him stalled at 54 home runs while Roger broke the record with 61.
Mantle discharged himself early and returned for Game 4 of the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, playing with an open, bleeding wound that stained his uniform. He could only manage a single before being removed for a pinch-runner, missing the remainder of the series.
Years later, Jacobson's concoctions were exposed as fraudulent and dangerous, leading to the revocation of his medical license in 1975.
He finished the season with 54 home runs while Roger Maris hit 61, making Roger the new record holder. It took 34 years, but someone had finally beat Babe Ruth’s single season home run record.
Mickey retired from baseball in 1969 at the age of 37 years old. He delivered a farewell speech on Mickey Mantle Day, June 8, 1969, at Yankee Stadium. Mantle's wife, mother, and mother-in-law were in attendance and received recognition at the ceremony held in his honour.
In 1994, Mickey checked himself into The Betty Ford Centre for alcohol after he was told by a doctor that he may not have that much time left if he kept drinking. His liver wasn’t doing well. After he completed treatment, his son, 36 year-old Billy died after struggling with substance abuse. His family feared that this would cause Mickey to relapse, but he remained sober for the rest of his life.
Mickey Mantle died at 2:10am on August 13, 1995, with his wife Meryln and son, David by his side. He was 63 years old. His mother passed away just 5 months earlier at the age of 91.
In 2000, his son, Mickey Jr passed away at age of 47 after a battle with cancer.
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