"Denny McLain's pitch came in letters high. With that infinite grace which marks the true artist Mickey Mantle's body unwound. The bat met the ball with an unmistakable crash. The ball soared high and far. The fans leaped to their feet with a roar of joy, admiration and love as the Sweet Switcher jogged around the bases for his 536th home run.
Was it the last clout in Magnificent Mick's 18-year career? Has he retired? Or will he drag his battered body through one more campaign?
To play or not to play- that is the Mantle question at present writing. 'I kinda don't think I'll play anymore,' he told Dick Young of the New York Daily News in mid-November. 'The main thing is I just can't hit like I used to anymore. I feel really good, my knees and legs, they're better than they've been in the last few years. But I don't have any reflexes anymore. I'll still go to camp and make the decision there.'
The story of Mickey's probable retirement broke on Page 1 the following morning. The reaction was remarkable. Yankee President Mike Burke heatedly denied its truth. At a press conference the following week Mickey said by long distance that the decision would be made in camp. And there the matter rests.
Mickey's retirement, if it comes this spring, will end the dynasty of Yankee superstars which began with Babe Ruth in 1920 and continued through Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio to the Mick himself. It's 19 years since Casey Stengel, in a monologue to baseball writers, said, 'We got a kid out in Joplin who'll singe the hair offa them pitchers' heads; he hits from both sides of the plate, whangs it into the seats either way, runs like a scared rabbit and throws like a catapult.'
Mickey arrived at the St. Petersburg training camp the following spring wearing a hard straw hat and carrying a $4 cardboard suitcase. He was a country kid from a zinc-mining town in Oklahoma, shy to the point of inarticulateness. Dazzled by great big New York. But wham!- how he could hit, run and throw! DiMag' was close to retirement then and Casey assigned Tommy Henrich, the master outfielder, to convert the rookie from shortstop to flycatching.
It was rough going at first for the 20-year-old who'd never been east of the Mississippi. He overcame his homesickness for the great open spaces by watching western movies during his off-hours. He suffered a serious emotional blow when his father died that winter of 1951 from Hodgkin's Disease. Other males of the Mantle family had died young; he became convinced he would never see 40.
But Mickey's intense love of baseball and his gutsy spirit overcame his moody spells. He filled Joltin' Joe's shoes in centerfield with room to spare. He lay down perfect drag bunts, ran the bases with blinding speed. His home runs were not mere long high fly balls. They traveled like rocket shots. In 1953 he sent a ball 565 feet out of Griffith Stadium, the longest drive in big league history. In 1955 he added the term 'tape-measure homer' to the game's vocabulary by blasting another baseball 502 feet over the centerfield screen and into the bleachers in Yankee Stadium.
He was the most exciting player around but not the most popular. Fans called him a crybaby because he went into tantrums after striking out, hurling bats or breaking them against the dugout wall. They mistook his inveterate shyness for surliness. He wasn't surly. He was intensely interested in only one thing: to play the best ball he could in every game.
In 1956 he did just that. He won the coveted Triple Crown, with 52 home runs, 130 RBI and a league-leading .353 batting average.
Meantime, he was growing into a man of the world. Honors rained upon him. He began to be seen in New York's favorite spots in the company of Whitey Ford, a native New Yorker whose expansive personality meshed with Mickey's retiring nature. He was happily married to a childhood sweetheart, Merlyn Johnson, and, by 1959, the father of four sons, Mickey Jr., David, Billy and Danny. The Mantles moved to Dallas where Mickey built a beautiful house for Merlyn and his children.
However, until 1961 when Ralph Houk succeeded Casey Stengel as Yankee manager, Mickey had been just one of many champions among a company of almost perpetual champions. Houk was pure old-time Yankee stuff. He had watched Mickey grow from a country kid to a full-fledged star, a ten-year man. He knew that the Kid from Commerce was no longer a kid, that his reckless daring and will to win had resulted in bruises and injuries which caused his legs to be triple-taped from thighs to ankles.
'What's with Mantle?' a reporter asked Manager Houk during spring training.
'He's going to be the team leader this year.'
'How do you define 'leader?''
Ralph explained that for years Mickey had been the team's speed marvel on the bags and in the field, its wholesale run-producer and super-hitter. 'That's leading, isn't it?' he asked.
Mickey's 'promotion' had an immediate psychological effect, adding stature to the slugger in the eyes of his teammates and the fans. That year he hit 54 home runs, his highwater mark in that department in a stirring race with Roger Maris for the four-base title. Despite a hip infection which limited his playing. Mantle's mere presence on the bench stirred the Yanks to a melodramatic World Series triumph over the Cincinnati Reds.
His spirit was high but his flesh and bones were becoming weak. Mickey was out of the game with a pulled muscle in '62; he broke a foot in a collision in '63; he redamaged his knee sliding into a base in '64, and injured his shoulder so badly he couldn't throw or hit lefthanded in '64. But he stayed in there, hitting homers, occasionally stealing a base, doing the little things that won games. At the end of the '65 season, he visited Mayo Clinic for one more operation. 'Mickey has a greater capacity to withstand pain than anyone I've ever seen,' says Yankee trainer Joe Soares. 'He is as amazing a medical case history as he is an athlete.'
In 1967 Mantle moved to first base where throws are shorter and running less demanding than in the outfield. The 'great experiment' was a success. He quickly adapted himself to the strange position and although far from a Fancy Dan, did the footwork and covered the ground with cool judgment.
His batting declined, however, to .245 in 1967 to .234 last year, but not his popularity. Each time he approached the plate for his turn at bat became a thrill, not only to New York fans but to rooters in every big-league city. He had a strange, mysterious rapport with the public. Young and old cheered in scenes reminiscent of the old days when the great Bambino set himself in the batter's box and swung for the distant fences.
'How long can Mickey play?' asked Ralph Houk. 'It's a year to year proposition. He helped the club last with key hits and walks. Mickey was second in the American League in the free ticket department, getting 106 to Carl Yastrzemski's 119. He lifts up, he's great with young players, I'd like to have him around as long as he wants to stay.'
Does Mickey want to stay? The kid who knew nothing except how to play wonderful baseball has grown into the seasoned, knowing man but the old desire to excel is still there, despite aches, pains and the bandages which hobble his every move. Mickey has overcome his boyish naivete and his habit of falling for any salesman with a bill of goods. He has invested his six-figure annual income in solid business ventures, the Count Cookin' restaurant chain and the recently formed M-M Men's Shops, both with national outlets.
If he retires in March he will not put his pinstripes with the famous No. 7 on the back into mothballs. Like Joe DiMaggio, he will wear it in training camp each spring as a batting advisor.
If and when he goes, the Yankees will have another player with box-office potential waiting in the wings. Tony Solaita, a Samoan of the South Sea Islands, led all batters in organized baseball last year with 49 home runs. Tony is a left-handed first baseman with little experience who impressed observers with his power during a late-season tryout. But he is hardly a Mickey Mantle in embryo- he lacks that blinding speed and switch-hitting skill that the Mick had when he first came up.
There is but one Mickey Mantle, the superstar with drive, guts and raw courage. Despite injuries and operations that would have felled any other man he has been the most enduring Yankee of them all and has played in 2,401 games, more games than any other Bomber in history."
-Charles Dexter, Baseball Digest (February 1969)
"Let me tell you younger fans something about this man. His legs are bad now and have been for many years. I can remember being in the dressing room as far back as '52 when I first saw his legs being taped. Rolls, yards were being bandaged on tightly up to his thighs. Supports and bandages and tape; but it was always under the pinstripes and he always went out and played every day. Yes, he had guts and he still had speed in those early days. Surprised?
There was a time before all the injuries and all the wounds when he could go to first in 3.1 seconds, faster than Willie Davis, and Sam Jethroe and Ty Cobb. He was a guy who hit a grounder to second, and the fans would roar as he left the plate. Yes, it was a thrill just to see him run. I remember those wonderful early years at Joplin and Kansas City and in his rookie spring training of '51. I remember how he hit and how he ran and how he was going to be the greatest of all the players.No, Mick, you are only ONE of the greatest, the torn muscles and cut out cartilages have seen to that. But it's enough, damn it, it was more than enough. Thanks for the thrills and the memories, Mickey, and please play another year."
Robert Kalich, The Baseball Rating Handbook
"It's sad to realize that the longer Mickey Mantle plays, the lower his lifetime batting average will drop. Mick hit an all-time low of .237 last year, dropping his career mark under .300 after 18 seasons. But he has other milestones which not tarnish so easily. When he hit his 535th homer last September, Mickey moved into third place behind Babe Ruth and Willie Mays among the all-time home run hitters.
Now 37 and still hampered by his famous frail legs, he no longer plays both ends of doubleheaders or runs the bases with the same abandon of his youth. But he did a fine job playing first base for the Bombers last season, leading the club in homers with 18 and in walks with 106.
He also leads the league in fans."
-Jack Zanger, Major League Baseball 1969
"The 1969 Yankee Yearbook is dedicated to Mickey Mantle, baseball's best-loved superstar for the past 18 years, whose retirement this season at 37 marked the close of one of the most spectacular careers in baseball.
The Mighty Mantle of 2,401 games - three-time winner of the Most Valuable Player award, winner of the Triple Crown, third on the list, behind Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, in total homers at 536 - is surely one of baseball's' immortals.
But Mickey the man - the magical, modest guy whose way with fame and aching legs and courage made his name a byword - this is the Mantle who will never be forgotten by the fans, by the Yankees, his teammates and all those who considered it a privilege to play against him.
A legend in his time, Mickey will be a Yankee always ... joining the illustrious greats who have made the New York Yankees the most glamorous team in sports."
-The New York Yankees Official 1969 Yearbook
"One of the most exciting and popular players baseball has ever produced, Mickey continually receives standing ovations both at Yankee Stadium and on the road. Despite his physical problems, he is still a valuable asset to the Yankees not only with his potent bat but also with his inspirational leadership.
In 1968 he again led the club in home runs with 18, giving him, giving him 536 lifetime and placing him third on the all-time home run list. Mantle is still feared by enemy pitchers as evidenced by his 106 walks.
He went five-for-five against Washington on May 30, with two homers and five RBIs. He also hit two homers in one game on August 10 against Minnesota. He has now accomplished this feat 46 times.
Mantle hit three in one game on May 13, 1955. He had four homers in four consecutive at-bats from July 4-6, 1962. He has hit home runs righty and lefty in the same game 10 times, a major league record.
He has hit 18 World Series home runs, a record (Babe Ruth had 15). Mickey is one of 11 to hit a grand slam in the World Series, accomplishing this on October 4, 1953.
Mickey was MVP in the American League in 1956, 1957 and 1962. He was winner of the Hickok Belt as Top Professional Athlete of 1956 and also won the Triple Crown in 1956."
-1969 New York Yankees Press-TV-Radio Guide
THE NOBLEST YANKEE OF THEM ALL
When Mickey Mantle Calls It Quits, The Era That Spawned Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig And Joe DiMaggio Will Officially End
"Seldom has an era been captured so well in so few words as it was in the haunting lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson, which captured the fancy of the nation last year. Recall the lines that brought back memories of the days when the Yankee Clipper would patrol center field with such classic grace:
'Where have you gone
Joe DiMaggio?
Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.'
The words referred not merely to baseball. They referred to a way of life that seemed a little less complicated, a little more secure when Joe was roaming center with that seemingly effortless style of his. It was a different era.
Actually, though, the era didn't end when DiMaggio retired at the close of the 1951 season. In fact, the transition was relatively smooth as Mickey Charles Mantle stepped into DiMag's spot and continued to lead the Yankees into the World Series every year.
But baseball and the Yankees have changed during Mantle's long tenure with the club, and that's why the era that went almost undisturbed when DiMaggio wound up his career will officially close when Mickey decides to retire. There was a DiMaggio to step in when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were all through, and there was a Mantle to carry on where Joe left off. When Mickey calls it quits, however, there will be no super-star waiting in the wings.
The general belief (and hope) is that Mantle will be able to swing the bat well enough this spring to play at least one more season. Last November, when he denied reports that he had already decided to retire, he made it clear that he was going to the Yankees' spring training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. with the intention of trying to play again. 'I'm going to be at spring training,' Mickey said. 'I'm going to try to make the club and play at least one more year.'
Manager Ralph Houk wants Mantle back badly. 'I think there's still good baseball left in him,' Houk claims. 'He may need more rest than before, but in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, he's as good an offensive player as there is.'
Yankee President Mike Burke also has the welcome mat out for Mickey and adds that there'll always be a place in the Yankee organization for him even after he finally does retire. 'We're not going to ask Mantle to play one minute after he wants to stop,' Burke says. 'We also have an informal agreement with Mickey and he'll continue in our organization once he does retire.'
Mantle is still the kind of player who causes a ripple of excitement every time he steps out of the dugout. To realize the kind of career he's had, you have only to note that he has hit 18 homers in World Series competition. That's the record (Babe Ruth had 15) and it's likely to stand for a long, long time because the structure of baseball now makes it almost impossible for a team to put together a dynasty like the Yankees had.
Since the Mantle saga has already become a legend, even though he's still an active player, a glance at the hard statistics is the best way to measure his performance.
Even though he's been hampered by a series of injuries that have robbed him of long stretches of playing time, he has still appeared in more games than any other Yankee. More than Ruth, Berra, DiMaggio, even more than the Iron Horse- Gehrig.
He has been named the Most Valuable Player in the American League on three different occasions (1956, 1957, 1962) and is the only active player in either league who's hit 50 or more home runs in two different seasons. He has slammed 536 homers in his career, and that's third on the all-time list.
Although Mickey is now playing first base to preserve his aching legs, he shouldn't be remembered as a first baseman. Rather, he should be remembered for the way he covered center field in his prime and once led the American League with 25 assists. And then there was the way he could dash down the first base line in 3.1 seconds after laying down one of his patented drag bunts.
The list of injuries he's sustained over the years is almost endless. But even a brief mention of them provides a good idea of what he's been up against. It started in the 1951 World Series when he caught his right foot in an outfield drain while chasing a fly ball- and went down like he'd been shot. The mishap wrecked his right knee and it's never been the same. 'I think all my trouble stems from that one injury,' Mickey contends.
Then in the 1957 World Series, he collided with Milwaukee's Red Schoendienst and injured his right shoulder. It was to plague him over the years and lead, eventually, to a shoulder operation before the start of the 1966 season.
He was also forced out of the 1961 World Series with an abscessed right hip. But he kept on playing until the blood seeped through the bandages and stained his uniform. When he finally let the doctors get at him, he had a hole the size of a golf ball in his hip.
In 1962, he missed 39 games with a muscle tear in his right thigh, a pulled ligament in his left knee, a strained right knee and a sprained muscle in his right side. In 1963, he missed seven games at the start of the season with a bruised rib. Then in June, he crashed against the fence in Baltimore going for a Brooks Robinson drive and fractured the third metacarpal bone in his left foot. He was put on the disabled list and didn't play again until August 4. In his first time at bat after the long layoff, he hit a pinch homer.
The story of Mantle's career, however, is more than just the tale of a great athlete who overcame a series of injuries to become the finest player of his time. There is another facet to it that helps explain why he's in the position he is in, and why it's unlikely that another player will ever be in exactly the same situation.
It's often forgotten, especially when Mantle is hailed every time he comes to the plate, but Mickey was booed in his early years with the Yankees. He was given so much fanfare as the young man who would follow in DiMaggio's footsteps that the fans expected too much of him. (Of course, it's doubtful he could have satisfied them if he had hit .400 with 65 homers.) It didn't help, either, that he was a shy kid from Oklahoma who was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight and wasn't ready to cope with it.
The result was that, for the first 10 years of his career, he was almost taken for granted. When he slumped to .285 in 1959, he was even given a cut in salary. Now he gets an automatic $100,000 a year.
The year that things changed was 1961. Two key events happened then. Ralph Houk replaced Casey Stengel as Yankee manager and Mickey and Roger Maris made their joint run at Babe Ruth's homer record. Houk was able to create a rapport with Mantle that never existed between the slugger and the older Stengel. To this day, Mick claims he 'liked' all the managers he's played for except Houk. He claims he 'loves' Houk.
Meanwhile, when Maris and Mantle went on their homer binge, people began rooting for Mickey. All the affection and sympathy that had been denied him since the start finally went his way. The fans figured that Mantle, who'd been a star for a decade and had already hit 52 homers in a season, should be the one to break the record. Maris, who had never hit more than 39, was considered the upstart.
As it turned out, Roger won the battle. He finished with 61 homers while Mantle, [ill] at the end of the season, fell short with 54. But Mickey had won the war. His place as a favorite of baseball fans around the country was sure.
When the Yankee dynasty collapsed in 1965 and it became obvious there was no young super-star to replace him, it only seemed to increase the fans' affection for the Yankees' No. 7- a number which will be retired along with the man.
And when Detroit's Denny McLain served up an obviously grooved pitch that Mantle drilled for historic homer 535 last September, it was as if baseball was saying thanks to Mickey for all that he had contributed to the game. It still owes him a few more thank-yous."
-Vito Stellino, Sports All-Stars 1969 Baseball
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