Mickey Mantle

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Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle 1953.jpg
Center Fielder
Born: October 20, 1931
Spavinaw , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Died on: August 13, 1995 in
Dallas , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Suggested: Switch Threw: Right
Debut in Major League Baseball
April 17,  1951  with the  New York Yankees
Last MLB assignment
September 28,  1968  with the  New York Yankees
MLB statistics
(until end of career)
Batting average    .298
Home runs    536
Hits    2,415
RBI    1,509
Teams

Awards

member of
☆☆☆Baseball Hall of Fame☆☆☆
Recorded     1974
Quota    88.2%
Autograph signature of Mickey Mantle.jpg

Mickey Charles Mantle (born October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw , Oklahoma , † August 13, 1995 in Dallas , Texas ) also called The Commerce Comet or The Mick , was an American baseball player .

life and career

He played for the New York Yankees for 18 years , replacing Joe DiMaggio in the position of center fielder (middle of the outfield). His career was marked by many injuries.

He was considered one of the most popular players of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1956 he won the Triple Crown trophy (most home runs , most RBIs, and highest batting average in a season). Mantle also achieved a batting average of at least 300 (i.e. 30%) in ten years and partly clear about what a phenomenal achievement is and clearly places him at the top of the eternal statistics in this regard. With his huge number of home runs and RBIs, he is still considered one of the two or three best switch hitters ( batter who can hit left- and right-handed) in history.

The Mickey Mantle name is also linked to a number of the most formidable home run hits in baseball history. The best-known case is probably the projectile that almost flew over the roof of the stands at Yankee Stadium on May 22, 1963 (against the Kansas City Athletics - later Oakland Athletics ) . However, the ball crashed only a little deeper against a narrow panel under the roof edge. Baseball enthusiasts have long argued about how far the ball would have flown had it passed the roof. Since almost all eyewitnesses assured that the ball was still rising, it is widely agreed today that a flight distance of about 730 feet, i.e. almost 225 meters, would have been achieved. There are also a number of respected sources - including opposing players - who testify at least two cases in which Mickey actually hit balls out of Yankee Stadium during training (known as batting practice ). In addition, all viewers could see how Mantle repeatedly carried away balls over the roof of the stands, for example several times at Tiger Stadium in Detroit .

As a teenager, he sustained a leg injury while playing football in high school, which developed into osteomyelitis . He was only able to avoid an amputation because a new "miracle medicine" called penicillin was just becoming known. The affected leg, however, plagued him repeatedly throughout his life. In addition, as early as 1951, when attempting to catch a ball that had been hit very far (by the later " Hall of Famer " Willie Mays ), he kicked the cover of a drainage gully with his spikes so badly that his right leg literally twisted in itself which left an injury to the knee, which additionally hindered him permanently.

Towards the end of his career he became more and more addicted to alcohol, which developed into an addiction after his resignation in 1969, for which he had to go to the famous Betty Ford Center for treatment several times . He was therefore transplanted with a new liver in 1995, which, however, could not extend his life span much, since the operation had been diagnosed with cancer in the no longer curable stage, which he succumbed a little later. Mickey Mantle's grave is in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas.

As a player, Mickey Mantle wore the shirt with the number 7. As with some other well-deserved or famous players, the New York Yankees have this shirt number "retired" ("retired"). H. no Yankees player with this shirt number will appear in regular play.

On December 23, 1951, he married Merlyn Johnson (1932-2009), the couple had 4 sons.

successes

Others

  • New York City has had the legendary Mickey Mantle Sports Bar for over 20 years . On display are devotional objects from the life of Mickey Mantle as well as other famous athletes from the States.
  • In the thriller French Connection II (1975), the main character, drug cop Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, played by Gene Hackman , makes direct reference to Mickey Mantle. Doyle (the character is based on a real figure) wanted to be a baseball player in his youth and played on the same team as the young Mickey Mantle. When he realized that his playing skills were far below those of Mantle, he joined the police. Doyle utters the insulting phrase "Mickey Mantle sucks!" During a brutal drug addiction cure during which he loses his temper. Mantle, a fan of the actor Hackman, personally gave the producers his consent that this sentence could be spoken in the film.
  • Furthermore, in the 2002 released film Catch Me If You Can , Mickey Mantle and the New York Yankees are referred to several times.
  • On a Dick Cavett show with Paul Simon and Whitey Ford , Mantle shared that he was a bed wetter until he was 16. Paul Simon, who grew up in Queens and a Yankee fan, for whom Mantle was a hero of his youth, said in complete consternation "You wet your bed 'til your sixth ... Mickey Mantle wet his bed?" .. Mickey Mantle goes to bed? "). Mantle made a late appearance in Paul Simon's 1989 video "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard".

Web links

Commons : Mickey Mantle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ findagrave.com: The grave of Mickey Mantle (English)
  2. ↑ Baseball card almost landed in the Atlantic. Image. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  3. ^ Dick Cavett Show, April 9, 1970
  4. ^ Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard Official Video
personal data
SURNAME Mantle, Mickey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mantle, Mickey Charles (full name); The Commerce Comet (nickname); The Mick (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American baseball player
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Spavinaw , Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH August 13, 1995
Place of death Dallas , Texas