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Mickey Charles Mantle was born on October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, but moved to Commerce just a few short years later. Named after Hall of Fame catcher Gordon "Mickey" Cochrane, Mickey was the oldest son of Elvin "Mutt" and Lovell Mantle. Mickey has three brothers: twins Ray & Roy and Butch, and a sister, Barbara. Mickey's father Mutt, a lead miner, was a big baseball fan and played semi-pro baseball himself. He passed his love of the game on to Mickey at an early age. |
| As soon as Mickey was old enough to swing a bat and throw a ball, Mickey's father Mutt and grandfather Charlie pitched to him everyday after school in front of a leaning tin barn by their house at 319 S. Quincy in Commerce, OK. (This is where Mickey lived until he was 14. The home and barn are going through a complete restoration to honor Mickey and the Mantle family.) Mutt, a righty, and Charlie, a lefty, taught Mickey to switch-hit by alternating pitching to him so that Mickey could learn to hit from both sides of the plate. The tin barn acted as a backstop. Mickey also developed tremendous strength working at the lead mines during the summers. One job in particular, that of "screen ape," was responsible for Mickey's incredibly strong wrists, shoulders, arms and forearms. A "screen ape" smashed large rocks into small stones with a sledgehammer. There were two "screen apes," one of whom smashed rocks until he couldn't hold the hammer any longer, and then rested while the other took his turn. The strength Mickey developed from this work and other farm chores later helped him to hit some of the longest home runs in the history of the game. |  |
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By the time he reached high school Mickey's ability was well beyond that of his contemporaries. He was a gifted athlete, playing not only baseball but also football and basketball. It was during practice for a high school football game that tragedy befell Mickey. He was accidentally kicked on the left shin, and the wound developed into the bone disease osteomyelitis. It became so serious doctors wanted to amputate Mickey's leg. Mickey's mother wouldn't hear of it, and Mutt drove Mickey 175 miles to the Crippled Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City. There Mickey was treated with a new wonder drug, receiving doses every three hours around the clock. Miraculously he responded, and Mickey's leg was saved. The drug: penicillin. Unfortunately, the injury was just the first among many that were to hinder Mickey for the rest of his life. However, this bout with osteomyelitis rendered Mickey unfit for military service for life, another issue that arose later in life. |
| Once he'd recovered from his injury he quickly advanced past other players his age, and at sixteen played with a local semi-pro team, the Baxter Springs Whiz Kids. Although players usually were considered for the Whiz Kids only after turning age 18, Mickey easily fit in with the older players, becoming one of the best players in the area. Word of Mickey's ability, however, hadn't spread beyond northeastern Oklahoma. That was about to change... |  |
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In 1948 Yankees' scout Tom Greenwade came to Baxter Springs to watch Mickey's teammate, third baseman Billy Johnson, in a Whiz Kids game. During the game Mickey hit two homers, one righty and one lefty, into a river well past the ballpark's fences. Greenwade wanted to sign Mickey on the spot but, upon finding out that he was only sixteen and still in high school, told him he would come back to sign him with the Yankees on his graduation day in 1949. Good to his word, Greenwade was there right on schedule, signing Mickey to a minor league contract with the Yankees Class D team in Independence, Kansas. Mickey signed for $400 to play the remainder of the season with an $1,100 signing bonus. It was one of the great steals in baseball history. Tom Greenwade was quoted in the press release announcing Mickey's signing as saying that Mickey was the best prospect he'd ever seen.
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| Except for a brief visit to the minor league team in
Kansas City later that summer, Mickey never looked back. That fall
the Yankees played the New York Giants in Mickey's first World Series.
Yankees' center fielder Joe DiMaggio, in the last season of his career,
was slowed by a nagging heel injury. Casey Stengel asked Mickey to
help DiMaggio in center (Mickey was playing right-field) and on a
pop fly by Willie Mays Mickey's spikes caught in a drain cover when
he stopped suddenly to avoid a collision with Joe. Mickey went down
as if he'd been shot, and was carried from the field on a stretcher.
It was the first of what turned out to be many injuries he suffered
throughout his playing career. One of the questions baseball scholars ponder is the great "What if?" What would Mickey have accomplished if he had been healthy during his career? A question that will never be answered, but the answer certainly would make a staggering difference in Mickey's lifetime stats. What if...? |
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Even with his history of injuries, which was to haunt him throughout his career, few players have ever accomplished what Mickey accomplished. During his career with the Yankees Mickey played more games as a Yankee than any other player (2,401), won three Most Valuable Player awards ('56, '57 and '62), won baseball's Triple Crown in 1956 with a .353 batting average, 52 homers and 130 rbi (leading the major leagues in all three categories), and hit 536 career home runs, third highest when he retired and the most ever by a switch-hitter. Mickey appeared in 12 World Series during his first 14 years with the Yankees, winning seven World Championships. His 18 home runs, 42 runs, 40 rbi and 43 bases on balls are still World Series records. |
| No one in the history of the game has hit the ball farther than Mickey Mantle. His 565-foot home run hit at Griffith Stadium in Washington on April 17, 1953 is the home run that coined the term "tape measure home run." It's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest home run ever measured. Guinness also notes that Mickey's 643-foot homer hit at Detroit's Tiger Stadium on September 10, 1960 is the longest home run measured "mathematically after the fact." But neither of those home runs is Mickey's longest. |  |
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In an exhibition game at the University of Southern
California during his rookie spring training in 1951 Mickey walloped
a 656-foot shot left-handed that left Bovard Field and crossed an
adjacent football field. It may be the longest home run in history.
It was also his second monster homer of the game. He also hit a ball
right-handed that cleared the left-field wall and landed on top of
a three-story house well over 500 feet away. As Mickey's teammate
and close friend Billy Martin put it, "No man in the history
of baseball had as much power as Mickey Mantle. No man. When you're
talking about Mickey Mantle - it's an altogether different level.
Separates the men from the boys." Mickey is one of the most popular players to ever play the game. After he retired from baseball on March 1, 1969 he may have become even more popular with fans. Everywhere he went his presence generated tremendous excitement, to the point that he rarely had any time to himself. He worked as a broadcaster for Sports Channel in New York for a number of years. His restaurant at 42 Central Park South, Mickey Mantle's, is one of the most popular eateries in New York. His baseball cards have become astonishingly valuable. Recently his rookie card sold in excess of $50,000. His autograph is one of the best known and most sought after in sports. He wrote several books about his life and experiences as a ballplayer, including his 1985 best-seller, The Mick. His autobiographical documentary film, Mickey Mantle: The American Dream Comes To Life®, was a BILLBOARD Magazine national best-seller two years in a row: #3 in 1989 and #1 in 1990. It has won numerous awards and is widely considered the best sports portrayal ever made. Numerous publications called it, "The best baseball video ever made," including The NY Daily News, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Today Show, Larry King Live, The Roy Firestone Show, and many others. It is broadcast periodically on Public Television, generating high ratings, and has become a fan favorite across the country. There is an expanded edition of the program, called, The Lost Stories Special Edition, that includes a bonus hour of never-before-released Mickey stories that complement and complete the original program. The Official Licensed Mickey Mantle Catalog offers a variety of Mickey Mantle merchandise for fans and maintains the Official Licensed Mickey Mantle Website, which has thousands of visitors every month. Simply put, Mickey is one of the most beloved figures in history. |
In 1993 Mickey was admitted to the Betty Ford Center for alcohol
rehabilitation. During his stay Mickey received more mail than anyone
in the history of the center. Afterward he spread the message of
the ills of drug and alcohol abuse to kids, appearing on a number
of television programs to speak about his experiences.
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