Mickey Mantle
The Commerce Comet: switch-hitting Yankees center fielder, Triple Crown winner and World Series record holder.
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via Wikipedia: Mickey Mantle · see source
Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), known as "the Mick" and "the Commerce Comet", spent his whole Major League Baseball career, from 1951 to 1968, with the New York Yankees, mostly in center field. Widely rated among the finest hitters ever, he could hit for both average and power from either side of the plate, and remains the only player with 150 home runs batting left-handed and right-handed. He finished with 536 home runs, won three American League MVP awards and the 1956 Triple Crown, and entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.
Lore & Background
Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, and grew up in Commerce, where his father Mutt worked in the lead and zinc mines. Mutt, a semi-pro player, named him after catcher Mickey Cochrane and trained him from early childhood to switch-hit. A high school football injury led to osteomyelitis in his left leg, which penicillin saved from amputation.
Yankees scout Tom Greenwade signed him in 1949 with a $1,500 bonus. After tearing through the minors, including a batting title at Joplin, he made the Yankees in 1951 at 19. When he slumped and was sent to Kansas City, his father's sharp rebuke helped him rebound.
Did You Know?
- He wore uniform No. 6 as a rookie before switching to No. 7.
- The draft board rejected him for military service because of his osteomyelitis.
- His first professional home run, on June 30, 1949, cleared a fence 460 feet away.
- After retiring he worked as a commentator for NBC and briefly coached for the Yankees in 1970.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Mickey Mantle (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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