1965 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
"About the only award Mickey Mantle hasn't won is the Purple Heart. The star-crossed superstar was named the American League's Most Valuable Player three times, was the last man to win the Triple Crown (1956) and has led the league in home runs four times. Last year, playing on legs that would put most men in a hospital, Mickey batted .303 and led the club in runs (91), homers (35), runs batted in (111) and bases on balls (99). His 35 homers gave him a lifetime total of 475, moving him into seventh place on the all-time list, and he needs only 22 this season to pass Stan Musial. Mickey finally made a concession to his ailing legs in '64 by vacating center field. It's only a minor one. As long as Mick is in the lineup, the Yankees are dangerous."
-Jack Zanger, Major League Baseball 1965
"Now in his 15th year of Yankee stardom, Mickey Charles Mantle is certain to set a host of records before he completes his remarkable career.
He's already established many records ... 18 homers in World Series play, most times hitting homers from opposite sides of the plate in the same game (10) ; four times home run and four times slugging percentage leader in the American League, Most Valuable Player three times, the last player to win baseball's Triple Crown and winner of the Hickock Pro Athlete Belt in 1956.
In his injury-marked career, Mantle has hit a career .309 with more than 2,000 hits, including a major league leading 454 home runs going into the 1965 season. This total puts him in seventh place on the all-time homer list, needing only 22 to pass the total of Stan Musial.
Mickey might well be the first player to reach the 500 homer level since the late, great Mel Ott. Of Mickey's 454 up to this season, 322 had been hit left-handed, 132 right-handed, 226 at Yankee Stadium and 228 on the road.
Mickey, who needs just 282 games to pass Lou Gehrig's record 2,164 games played as a Yankee, has his eyes set on this mark. If desire and willpower can do it, Mickey will reach and pass that and other goals."
-The New York Yankees Official 1965 Yearbook
Signed by Yankee organization, June 13, 1949.
One of ten to hit grand slam home run in World Series game, thereby tying record for most RBIs, one inning (4), October 4, 1953.
Hit three home runs in one game, May 13, 1955.
Led American League in home runs (37), 1955.
Led Majors in slugging percentage (.611), 1955.
Led American League in home runs (52), 1956.
Led Majors in slugging percentage (.705), 1956.
Last player to win Triple Crown, 1956.
Winner of Hickok Belt as Top Professional Athlete, 1956.
Most Valuable Player in American League, 1956.
Named Major League Player of the Year by The Sporting News, 1956.
Most Valuable Player in American League, 1957.
Led American League in home runs (42), 1958.
One of four to twice hit two home runs in one World Series game, October 2, 1958 and October 6, 1960.
Led American League in home runs (40), 1960.
Shares World Series record for most hits in one game (4), October 8, 1960.
Shares World Series record for most runs scored, seven-game World Series (8), 1960, 1964.
Led Majors in slugging percentage (.687), 1961.
Tied major league record by hitting four home runs in four consecutive at-bats, July 4-6, 1962.
Led Majors in slugging percentage (.605), 1962.
Most Valuable Player in American League, 1962.
Led Yankees in runs scored (92), home runs (35) and RBIs (111), 1964.
18 World Series home runs - a record.
Has hit homers righty and lefty in the same game 10 times, a major league record.
Ranks seventh on all-time home run list (454).
-1965 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide
"Looking forward to his 15th Yankee campaign, a very optimistic Mickey Mantle aims 'to play 140 games. I feel great. There is nothing to worry about.'
Considering his many travails and woes with his legs and knees down through the years, Mantle enjoyed a fine 1964 campaign. The Bomber bellwether participated in 143 games, batted .303, clouted 35 homers and knocked in 111 runs. Mickey also was runner-up to Baltimore's Brooks Robinson in the Most Valuable Player balloting.
Mantle was very pleased with the way Yogi Berra handled him in '64, as a result of which 'I got into more games than in any of the previous three campaigns.'
One of the big moves was the switch to left or right field from that big center garden in order to ease the strain on Mickey's legs.
Mickey will perhaps be the highest paid player in diamond annals in 1965, the fourth straight year in which he will have been in the six-figure pay class. The only other players to reach the magic $100,000 figure were Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Willie Mays.
One of Mick's top moments of the '64 season occurred on the night of September 17 when he snapped out of a slight batting slump and joined the 2,000 hit club by banging a homer, double and single. That paced a Bombers' victory which enabled them to recapture first place in the torrid American League pennant race.
The Yanks had been six games out on August 22, then went on a 17-7 rampage while the Orioles and Chisox were slumping. And it was Mickey Mantle who powered the Yankee surge. It was during that drive that Mantle said, 'I feel better than I have in several weeks. I think it's due to deep diathermy treatments. What they are trying to do is shrink the fatty pad on my knee. If feels better and I hope it stays that way.'
Giving much of the credit to his being moved out of the center field post he has roamed for years, Mickey commented, 'I haven't been nearly as tired playing left or right as I was playing center, where you have to keep moving to back up plays all the time.'
Mickey has his sights on playing 'at least five more years. In fact, I have played longer than I expected to after some of those early injuries.'
A list of Mickey's accomplishments would fill a book, so let it suffice to say that during his enviable career he has belted 454 home runs, batted in 1298 runs and belted 2016 hits for a lifetime batting mark of .309. Voted the junior circuit's MVP three times, Mickey won the $10,000 Hickock Belt as the Top Pro Athlete of 1956, captured the AL home run crown four times, the slugging title on four occasions, and is the author of 18 World Series home runs, the all-time mark.
Not bad for a chap who, during his Bomber career, has been bothered by such mishaps as knee injuries, shoulder injuries, fractured fingers, shin splints, hip abscesses, pulled thigh muscles, rib cage injuries, a broken foot and knee cartilage operations."
-Jay Publishing 1965 New York Yankees Yearbook
"At 33, with a medical history of repeated injuries, Mickey Charles Mantle still reigns as one of the game's superstars. Although his weak legs probably will force him out of center field, and possibly move him to first base, Mickey still wields one of baseball's most potent bats.
'I'll play center field until my legs are gone and when my legs are gone, I won't play baseball,' Mickey was quoted as saying when it was suggested that right or left field would place less strain on his often-injured underpinnings. But towards the end of last season, manager Yogi Berra shifted Mickey to left field and then to right. Mickey is intensely proud of the fact he's played center for the Yankees since the great Joe DiMaggio retired in 1952 but he's also a great team player. He took the switch without a murmur.
During the World Series, the booming Mantle bat was very much in evidence. He collected eight hits in 24 trips to the plate, including a brace of doubles and three home runs, and batted eight runs across the plate. In the third game he beat the Cardinals, 2-1, with a ninth-inning blast on the first pitch from Barney Schultz. Grinned Berra, 'Before Mickey went to the plate I told him this thing was getting late and serious, and he oughta hit a home run. That's what you call getting results.' The six-foot, 200-pound outfielder hit another in the sixth game and then delivered a three-run blast in the final game of the Series.
There have been many high spots in Mickey's career since he first joined the Yankees in 1951, a 19-year-old youngster out of the drab mining town of Commerce, Oklahoma. He's topped the American League in runs scored six times and in home runs on four occasions. In 1956, 1957 and 1962, he took the league's Most Valuable Player Award. Out for most of 1963 with a broken foot, Mickey bounced back last year and played in 143 games, hitting .303 with 35 homers and 111 RBI."
-1965 Official Baseball Almanac
MICKEY MANTLE, YANKEE GREAT
"Mantle, the 33-year-old star, holds a host of records. Chief among these, of course, is the 18 home run record he set last fall in World Series play. His three 1964 Series homers cracked Babe Ruth's long-standing record of 15. As the 1965 season started, Mantle ranked seventh on the all-time home run list with a career total of 454, only 21 short of Stan Musial's sixth-place total of 475. A record ten times, Mickey has hit homers from both sides of the plate in the same game. He is a three-time American League Most Valuable Player and was the last Triple Crown winner (1956). He won the Hickock Belt as the outstanding professional athlete of '56 when he also named Sporting News Player of the Year. The popular Mantle, injured often during his distinguished career, has been moved to left field to save his legs after playing a great center field during most of his Yankee seasons."
-1965 New York Yankees Scorecard and Official Program
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