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N0KFQ > TODAY 02.03.12 00:40l 59 Lines 2850 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 1
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Mar 1, 1969:
Mickey Mantle retires
On March 1, 1969, New York Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle
announces his retirement from baseball. Mantle was an idol to
millions, known for his remarkable power and speed and his
everyman personality. While "The Mick" patrolled center field and
batted clean-up between 1951 and 1968, the Yankees won 12
American League pennants and seven World Series.
Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1931. He
grew up in nearby Commerce, and played baseball and football as a
youth. With the help of his father, Mutt, and grandfather,
Charlie, Mantle developed into a switch-hitter. Mutt pitched to
Mantle right-handed and Charlie pitched to him left-handed every
day after school. With the family's tin barn as a backstop,
Mantle perfected his swing, which his father helped model so it
would be identical from either side of the plate. Mantle had
natural speed and athleticism and gained strength working summers
with his father in Oklahoma's lead mines. "The Commerce Comet"
eventually won a scholarship to play football for the University
of Oklahoma. However, baseball was Mantle's first love, so when
the New York Yankees came calling, Mantle moved to the big city.
Mantle made his debut for the Yankees in 1951 at age 19, playing
right field alongside aging center fielder Joe DiMaggio. That
year, in Game 2 of the World Series, Willie Mays of the New York
Giants hit a pop fly to short center, and Mantle sprinted toward
the ball. DiMaggio called him off, and while slowing down,
Mantle's right shoe caught the rubber cover of a sprinkler head.
"There was a sound like a tire blowing out, and my right knee
collapsed," Mantle remembered in his memoir, All My Octobers.
Mantle returned the next season, but by then his blazing speed
had begun to deteriorate, and he ran the bases with a limp for
the rest of his career.
Still, Mantle dominated the American League for more than a
decade. In 1956, he won the Triple Crown, leading his league in
batting average, home runs and runs batted in. His output was so
great that he led both leagues in 1956, hitting .353 with 52 home
runs and 130 runs batted in. He was also voted American League
MVP that year, and again in 1957 and 1962. After years of
brilliance, Mantle's career began to decline by 1967, and he was
forced to move to first base. The next season would be his last.
Mantle's penchant for drink led to debilitating alcoholism as he
grew older, and he died of liver cancer on August 13, 1995, at
age 63. At the time of his death he held many of the records for
World Series play, including most home runs (18), most RBIs (40)
and most runs (42). Mantle was elected to the Baseball Hall of
Fame in 1974 in his first year of eligibility.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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