Mickey mantle biography video on george michael

These injuries, which began with a torn ACL during the World Series, plagued him throughout his career and limited his defensive capabilities and overall longevity. As the face of the Yankees during a golden era for the franchise, Mantle became a national icon and a symbol of American sports excellence. His ability to hit for both average and power from both sides remains a rare and valuable asset in the game.

InMickey Mantle was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, a fitting recognition for his extraordinary career. His home runs, three MVP Awards, and seven World Series titles highlight his greatness as a player, while his ability to inspire and captivate fans speaks to his influence beyond the diamond. Like Like.

Willie Was greater, yeah, but Willie never caught a bad break like that — and as a rookie. I only was able to see the Mick play once in Detroit the last year of his career. Mickey hit into a double play, pop out to short and struck out a couple times. Still one of the best days of my life. My great uncle was his teammate. I have more than a few game used balls signed by Mantle and the team.

All and prior. When he was four years old, Mantle's family moved to the nearby town of Commerce, Oklahomawhere his father worked in lead and zinc mines. A semi-pro player himself, Mutt Mantle decided that his eldest son would be a baseball player before Mantle was even born. He named his eldest son after Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane and, very early on, began training Mickey to become a switch-hitter: Mantle later recalled batting left-handed against his father, who pitched to him right-handed, and batting right-handed against his grandfather, Charles Mantle, who pitched to him left-handed.

In addition to baseballMantle was an all-around athlete at Commerce High Schoolplaying basketball and football. He excelled in football, playing the halfback position. After graduating, Mantle was offered a football scholarship by the University of Oklahoma but declined it at his father's behest. He was kicked in the left shin and developed osteomyelitisan infectious disease incurable just a few years earlier, in his left leg.

Mantle's parents drove him overnight to Oklahoma Citywhere he was treated at a children's hospital with the newly available penicillin. The treatment successfully reduced the infection and saved his leg from amputation. Later in life, Mantle confided in friends and family about how he suffered from sexual abuse as a child at the hands of his older half-sister Anna Bae, who often babysat her younger half-siblings when Mantle's parents were out, as well as by other adults, including Anna Bae's friends and older boys in the neighborhood.

According to Merlyn, the teacher "seduced" him: "She just laid over him. The child sexual abuse he endured at the hands of family and adults likely contributed to Mantle's self-destructive behavior as an adult, with biographer Jane Leavy speculating that Mantle, like many childhood sexual abuse victims, likely suffered from complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mantle began his professional baseball career in Kansas with the semi-professional Baxter Springs Whiz Kids. During the game, Mantle hit three home runs. The ball went over the center field fence, which was feet from home plate. He hit 26 home runs and recorded RBIs, but struggled defensively at shortstop. In Julyafter the start of the Korean WarMantle was drafted for military service.

The draft board rejected him as physically unqualified for military service due the osteomyelitic condition of his left leg and gave him a 4-F defermentthe first of three times he was rejected for military service. Mantle was invited to the Yankees instructional camp before the season and proceeded to make a big impression during spring training.

One famous incident was when he hit two home runs at Bovard Field against the USC Trojans baseball teamwhen the Yankees were on a thirteen-game spring training tour of the west coast. Both home runs, one from each side of the plate, reportedly traveled a distance of at least feet. After a brief slump, Mantle was sent down to the rockies' top farm team, the Kansas City Blues.

His struggles at the plate continued. When he arrived, he started packing his son's clothes and, according to Mantle, said: "I thought I raised a man.

Mickey mantle biography video on george michael

I see I raised a coward instead. You can come back to Oklahoma and work the mines with me. Mantle was called up to the Yankees after 40 games with Kansas City, this time wearing uniform No. He hit. Mantle, playing right field, raced for the ball together with center fielder DiMaggio. At the last moment, the latter called for the ball.

In attempting to stay out of DiMaggio's way, Mantle's spikes got caught over an exposed drain pipe. His knee twisted awkwardly and he fell instantly, his right knee injured severely. Mantle had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. This was the first of numerous injuries that were to plague his eighteen-year career with the Yankees.

He was to play the rest of his career with a torn anterior cruciate ligament ACL. Accompanying his son to the hospital after the game, Mantle's father collapsed onto the sidewalk while trying to help his son into a taxi. The two were given hospital beds in the same room and watched the remainder of the World Series together. Mutt Mantle was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease ; he died a few months later at the age of 40, on May 7, Following the World Series, DiMaggio retired from baseball.

As a result, Mantle moved to center field before the start of the season. In Game 6, he homered in a 3—2 win. In Game 7, he knocked in the winning runs in the 4—2 victory, with a home run in the sixth inning and an RBI single in the seventh. Mantle's emergence as a star center fielder coincided with the Korean War. Due to his previous rejection, he was not amongst the baseball players who joined the Armed Forces, leading baseball fans and sportswriters to question his 4-F deferment.

This led to newspapers even calling him a "draft dodger" and Mantle receiving threatening letters. Mantle had a strong season, making the All-Star Game and helping the Yankees to another World Series, which they won against the Brooklyn Dodgers. After the season ended, a mickey mantle biography video on george michael two years after the injury he had picked up at the series, Mantle had surgery performed on his left knee in November He had a strong season in as well, leading the AL in home runs, triplesand walks, and recording a.

The season was, statistically, Mantle's greatest and was later described by him as his "favorite summer. In the fifth inning of Game 5, Mantle kept Don Larsen's perfect game alive by making a running catch of a deep fly ball off the bat of Gil Hodges. The inning before, he had scored the first of the Yankees' two runs with a home run off Brooklyn starter Sal Maglie.

Mantle won his second consecutive MVP inleading the leagues in runs scored and walks and recording a career-high batting average of. Still recovering from his shoulder injury, Mantle's season started slowly; during the first half, he was hitting a modest. He eventually regained his form, hitting. In the season, as the Yankees finished third in the AL rankings, Mantle's overall numbers declined from the previous season.

He recorded only 75 RBIs and also racked up a league-leading strikeouts. Though he led the team in base stealing 23runs scoredon-base percentage. In the first game, he was used as a pinch runner and as replacement right fielder. In the second game, Mantle was the starting center fielder, recording a single and a walk in four at-bats. Mantle began the season slowly, with his batting average dropping as low as.

However, he regained his form and finished the season leading the AL in home runs and runs scored, as the Yankees won the pennant. That year, Mantle started in both All-Star games, getting two walks in the first and a single in the second. Mantle was devastated by the loss, reportedly crying in the clubhouse afterwards. He would later call the loss in the World Series as one of the biggest disappointments of his career.

Five years earlier, Mantle had challenged Ruth's record for most of the season, and the New York press had been protective of Ruth on that occasion. When Mantle finally fell short, finishing with 52 home runs, many reporters were relieved. The New York press was harsh in its treatment of Mantle in his early years with the Yankees, emphasizing that he struck out frequently, was injury-prone, was a rube from Oklahomaand was perceived as inferior to DiMaggio.

Unlike Mantle, Maris was new to the New York scene, having been traded to the Yankees from the Kansas City Athletics before the mickey mantle biography video on george michael, and never managed to adjust to demands of the New York press, many of whom began to view him as surly and rude. During the season, the press pushed the notion of the Yankees being Mantle's team, with Maris often belittled and ostracized as an outsider and not a "true Yankee".

Late in the season, Mantle was hospitalized with a severe abscessing septic infection on his hip, which had resulted from a "miracle shot" that he had received from physician Max Jacobson at the recommendation of Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen. This revelation exposed Jacobson as a fraud and he was stripped of his medical license in While Maris went on to break the record on the last day of the season, Mantle finished with 54 home runs, the single-season record for a switch-hitter.

He also led the AL in runs scored and walks. For the second consecutive year, he narrowly missed winning his third MVP award, finishing second to repeat winner Maris. Neither Mantle nor Maris performed well in the series, recording between them three hits and two RBIs in twenty-five at-bats over five games. InMantle batted. He played in the first game but, due to the recurrence of an old injury, sat out the second.

Despite missing 41 games, he was selected as MVP for the third time, beating out teammate Bobby Richardson in the voting. Mantle fared poorly in the series, hitting. On May 22,Mantle hit a long drive off the top of the right field facade at Yankee Stadiumthe closest that anyone came to hitting a home run out of the old stadium. As a result, he did not play again until August 4, when he hit a pinch-hit home run against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium.

He was selected as an All-Star but, due to the foot injury, did not make the AL man roster for the first time. They were swept in four games for the first time in franchise history. With the tying run on base in the ninth inning, he struck out against Koufax for the third time. He finished the series 1-for with five strikeouts. InMantle hit. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

This was his 16th home run in the World Series, breaking Ruth's record of He hit two more home runs in the series to set a new record of 18, including an opposite field shot off Cardinals star Bob Gibson in St. Louis, and hit. Despite Mantle's performance, the Cardinals won the World Series in seven games behind Gibson's overall excellent pitching.

On April 9,the Houston Astros and the Yankees played an exhibition game to inaugurate the Astrodomethe world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium. In the sixth inning Mantle hit the park's first home run. He was again selected as an All-Star, this time as a reserve player, and did not make an appearance in the game. InMantle's batting average increased to.

This improvement was largely due to strong performances in June and July, when he returned to his normal form until sidelined with another injury. After the season, he was replaced by Joe Pepitone in the outfield, and spent his final two seasons at first base. On May 14,Mantle became the sixth member of the home run club. Mantle hit. As a result, his lifetime average was to dip below.

Mantle announced his retirement at the age of 37 on March 1, Mantle's wife, mother, and mother-in-law were in attendance and received recognition at the ceremony held in his honor. In his career, Mantle batted. He accumulated 2, hits, including home runs, doubles, and 72 triples. While Mantle led the league in strikeouts five times, holding the all-time record at the time of his retirement, he was also adept at drawing walks.

He led the majors in walks five times and finished with at least walks in a season ten times. Mantle was selected as an All-Star every season during his year career except for and In the World Series, he hit. Mantle is considered to be one of the greatest switch hitters in baseball history, hitting for both average and for power from both sides of the plate.

On September 10,he hit a ball left-handed that cleared the right-field roof at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Based on where the ball was found, it was estimated years later by historian Mark Gallagher to have traveled feet m. Deducting for bounces, there is no doubt that each of the above home runs landed well over feet m from home plate. Twice in his career Mantle hit a home run off the third-deck facade at Yankee Stadium, nearly becoming the only player to hit a fair ball out of the stadium during a game.

On May 22,against Kansas City's Bill FischerMantle hit a home run against the foot 34 m high facade, before the ball caromed back onto the playing field. His left to right home run disparity was due to Mantle having batted left-handed much more often, as a large majority of pitchers are right-handed. Overall, he hit slightly more home runs away than home Despite being known for power hitting, Mantle was also regarded as one of the best bunters for base hits.

He is in 10th place in number of bases-empty bunt singles, with 80 in only at-bats. In both andhe hit into only two double plays over the course of 1, plate appearances. Though not a flashy fielder, Mantle was an overall solid center fielder, especially considering he did not play the position until after he had reached the Major Leagues.

Manager Casey Stengelunimpressed with him at shortstop, moved him to the outfield before his rookie year. Possessed of good range in center field, his defensive skill was considered 'the less spectacular equal of his offensive genius'. I wasn't that good of a fielder. Mantle's career was plagued with injuries. Beginning in high school, he suffered both acute and chronic injuries to bones and cartilage in his legs.

By the end of his career simply swinging a bat caused him to fall to one knee in pain. In particular, the torn cartilage Mantle sustained to his right knee during the World Series was a very serious injury. Witnesses say it looked "like he had been shot. Stephen Haas, former medical director for the National Football League Players Associationhas speculated that Mantle injured his ACL during that incident and played the rest of his career without having it properly treated, since an ACL could not be repaired with the surgical techniques available in that era.

In order to minimize the effect of that, Yankee trainers would later wrap up his knees tightly with athletic tape. After the injury, teammates noted a change in Mantle's gait and a loss of speed as a result. Further, the shoulder injury Mantle suffered during the World Series, while not affecting his numbers, led to increasing difficulty in hitting from the left side over the next decade.

Inhe was the color commentator for the All-Star Game. During the seasonMantle briefly returned to the Yankees as their first base and hitting coach for a few weeks. He quickly came to dislike the job and left the post at the end of the season. It was his last official appearance in a Major League uniform. He hit a long home run over the foot sign by the bullpen, his last at Yankee Stadium.

Although he was among the best-paid players of the pre-free-agency era, Mantle was a poor businessman and did not invest well and struggled financially for a while. Amongst his failed business ventures was his chain of Mickey Mantle's Country Cookin ' restaurants in the early s. His financial situation improved after the sports memorabilia industry boomed in the s.

Mantle was a prized guest at baseball-card shows, and was paid considerable sums for his appearances and autographs. At the same time, he always insisted that the promoters of baseball-card shows include one of the lesser-known Yankees of his era, such as Bill Skowron or Hank Bauerso that they could also earn money for their appearances.

As a result, however, he was suspended from baseball by Commissioner Bowie Kuhnwho had taken a strong stance against gambling and viewed it as grounds for placement on the "permanently ineligible" list. Kuhn had already suspended Willie Mayswho had taken a position similar to Mantle's at Claridge. The commissioner warned Mantle before he accepted the position that he would be placed on the list if he took the job.

His original Yankee Stadium Monument Park plaque is displayed at the front entrance. While he made frequent appearances, he let others run the business. The couple had four sons together: Mickey Jr. In his autobiography, Mantle said that he had married Merlyn not out of love but because he was told to by his father who was, at the time, terminally ill.

He was indiscreet about them: at his retirement ceremony inhe brought his mistress along with his wife. InMantle separated from his wife, and while the two lived apart for the rest of Mantle's life, they never filed for divorce. During his final days, the two made peace and Merlyn was at his bedside when he died. During the last decade of his life, Mantle lived with his agent and live-in aide Greer Johnson.

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