His on-base percentage was .400, for the year. Beginning in high school, he suffered both acute and chronic injuries to bones and cartilage in his legs. Mantle was the starting center fielder in the second All-Star Game's lineup, getting a single and a walk in four at bats. By the close of the 1950s, with numerous individual awards and multiple World Series titles, Mantles contract had increased to $70,000. [citation needed], On January 16, 1961, Mantle became the highest-paid player in baseball by signing a $75,000 (equivalent to $680,000 in 2021) contract. Mantle made an appearance in the music video for "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon in 1988. At the time, doctors said he would die within two to three weeks if he did not receive a new organ. Oklahoma Heritage Society: Oklahoma Hall of Fame. He had his first drink at the age of 19. Salary 2020. But he pulled his car over and stopped and watched us play. Due to his parents' quick action in driving him to a hospital in Oklahoma City, his leg was saved from amputation. What did Mickey Mantle suffer from? He could drag a bunt, too, with runaway speed, and he played his role with a kind of all-American sense of destiny. In 1949, he received a draft-examine notice and was about to be drafted by the US Army but failed the physical exam and was rejected as unqualified and was given a 4-F deferment for any military service.[22][23]. Mantle played center field full-time for the Yankees until 1965, when he was moved to left field. [23][24] Mantle had high hopes that 1953 would be a breakout year but his momentum was stopped by an injury. His spouse is Merlyn Mantle (m. 1951-1995). Mickey Mantle was an American professional baseball player. SGC 5. [10] Fairchild's poetry celebrates gritty lives in small towns", "Catch me if you can(2002) - You know why the yankees always win? After fouling off a few pitches, he hit a towering home run over the 402-foot sign by the bullpen. He died in 1995 of a heart attack which he suffered months after receiving a liver transplant. He remembered what his doctor told him then: "Your liver is still working, but it has healed itself so many times that before long you're just going to have one big scab for a liver. He was 63 years old. He not only hit the ball, he hammered it. "Then in the World Series in 1951," Mantle said, "I tripped on the water-main sprinkler in the outfield while I was holding back so DiMaggio could catch a ball that Willie Mays hit, and I twisted my knee and got torn ligaments. The Yankees and Mantle were slowed by injuries during the 1965 season, and they finished in sixth place, 25 games behind the Minnesota Twins. Mantle had his breakout season in 1956 after showing progressive improvement each of his first five years. [46] Over the next decade, Mantle experienced increasing difficulty hitting from his left side. I had four. He was the blond, muscled switch-hitter who joined the Yankees at 19 in 1951 as DiMaggio was winding down his Hall of Fame career. On August 12, 1964, he hit one whose distance was undoubted: a center field drive that cleared the 22-foot (6.7m) batter's eye screen, some 75' beyond the 461-foot (141m) marker at the Stadium. [10] During a slump, Mantle called his father to tell him he wanted to quit baseball. This is based on data from the 2016 book The New York Times Best Seller List for Books About Money - published annually by the New York Times Magazine. The town respected Mantle's privacy, refusing either to talk about him to outsiders or to direct fans to his home. Mantle was one of the greatest offensive threats in baseball history and is considered to be one of the best baseball players of all time. "[47][63], Mantle's wife and sons all completed treatment for alcoholism and told him that he needed to do the same. He is the only player in history to hit 150 home runs from both sides of the plate. $237.50. During Game 5 of the 1956 World SeriesDon Larsen's perfect game against the Brooklyn DodgersMantle kept the perfect game alive by making a running catch of a deep fly ball off the bat of Gil Hodges, and provided the first of the two runs the Yankees would score with a fourth-inning home run off Brooklyn starter Sal Maglie. Five years earlier, in 1956, Mantle had challenged Ruth's record for most of the season, and the New York press had been protective of Ruth on that occasion also. The ball went over the center field fence, which was 460 feet from home plate. In 1974, Mantle was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. [84] That same year, Mantle was one of 100 nominees for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and was chosen by fan balloting as one of the team's outfielders. Joe DiMaggio was playing center field. How tall was Mickey Mantle? I see I raised a coward instead. After an impressive spring training, Yankees manager Casey Stengel decided to promote Mantle to the majors as a right fielder instead of sending him to the minors. He undoubtedly spread it to his own children. 1959 is said to be his only "off season" in his prime, and historians point to 75 runs batted in as particularly low for him. His last contract paid him $100,000 per season (the same as $800,000 after adjusting for inflation). Frail, and humbled by the sad events of his later life, Mantle received thousands of letters of support after his transplant operation and discovered that the public could forgive and forget. Mickey Mantle keeps his personal and love life private. On August 25, 1996, about a year after his death, Mantle's Monument Park plaque was replaced with a monument bearing the words "A great teammate" and keeping a phrase that had been included on the original plaque: "A magnificent Yankee who left a legacy of unequaled courage." Mantle was the uncle of actor and musician Kelly Mantle. He also had an excellent .984 fielding percentage when playing center field. Among his many accomplishments are all-time World Series records for home runs (18), runs scored (42), and runs batted in (40).[21]. 14. During the 1961 season, Mantle and teammate Roger Maris, known as the M&M Boys, chased Babe Ruth's 1927 single-season home run record. He missed several weeks, so his numbers were modest but respectable, especially with 92 RBIs. A statue of Mantle is located at Mickey Mantle Plaza at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, the home stadium of the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers, 2 South Mickey Mantle Drive in Oklahoma City. The following year, he became the highest-paid player in baseball by signing a $75,000 contract, which was incredibly high at the time. During the game, Mantle hit three home runs. He hit often, he hit deep and he did it from both sides of the plate better than anyone else. [11] Mutt named his son in honor of Mickey Cochrane, a Hall of Fame catcher. [78] When Yankee Stadium was reopened in 1976 following its renovation, the plaques and monuments were moved to a newly created Monument Park behind the left-center field fence,[78] which has since been replaced by a new Monument Park at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009. Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma in October 1931. Mantle's monument now stands at the current Monument Park. He is a celebrity Baseball player. Mantle spoke with remorse about his drinking in a 1994 Sports Illustrated cover story. In 1998, The Sporting News placed Mantle at 17th on its list of baseball's 100 greatest players. In 1980, Mantle separated from his wife and the two lived apart for the rest of their lives and never got a divorce. Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who had taken a similar position, had already had action taken against him. People chose instead to remember his baseball feats, unforgettably part of the heroic character he portrayed. He remained the Yankees' all-time leader in games played until Derek Jeter broke his record in 2011. Former New York Yankees star Mickey Mantle dies of liver cancer at the age of 63. Mantle's powerful slugging and tendency to swing for the stands set the template for superstars of subsequent generations. He later wrote a book (My Favorite Summer 1956) about his best year in baseball. 25: Mantles first baseball contract in 1951 paid him $5,000. The 1959 season was another frustrating situation; this time the first half of his season was good and his second-half comparatively bad. [76] The plaque was officially presented to Mantle by Joe DiMaggio. Signed photos and Perez Steele cards are valued between $250 and $300. With 37 homers, he was now a home run hitter, not just an all-around player with tremendous power. However, as the team slumped overall, he was still the team leader in several departments, for example in base stealing (23), runs scored (104), on-base average /percentage (.399) and fielding (.995). Applying thick wraps to both of his knees became a pre-game ritual, and by the end of his career simply swinging a bat caused him to fall to one knee in pain. "Then Ralph Houk came along and changed my whole idea of thinking about myself. Baseball scholars often ponder "what if" had he not been injured, and had been able to lead a healthy career. We welcome all corrections and feedback using the button below. As the years passed, Mantle frequently used a line popularized by football legend Bobby Layne, a Dallas neighbor and friend who also died in part from alcohol abuse: "If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken a lot better care of myself. [citation needed] The 1958 season started slowly for Mantle; the first half saw him at the .274 mark, as a shoulder injury from a collision with Braves' Red Schoendienst in the 1957 World Series left him with permanent struggles in his uppercut from the left side. In the 1940's, they won five pennants and four Series. He spent his final two careers in the major leagues playing first base. See the article in its original context from. [53], In 1992, Mantle wrote My Favorite Summer 1956 about his 1956 season.[54]. God gave me a body and the ability to play baseball. Long after the cheers faded, so did Mantle, although he revived his image as a kind of fallen hero who carried his afflictions with grace and humor. Mantle had his first 100 plus RBI year, in 1954, in a full season and regained .300 status. In the 1961 season, the press appeared to view the Yankees as Mantle's team, with Maris often belittled and ostracized as an outsider and not a true Yankee. [62][47] His father died of Hodgkin's disease at age 40 in 1952, and his grandfather also died young of the same disease. Mickey Mantle Net Worth At Death. And from 1960-64, with the addition of Roger Maris, they won five pennants and two World Series. After the 1966 season, Mantle was moved to first base, with Joe Pepitone taking his place in the outfield. Mickey Mantle played for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968, and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. . His annual salary was around $7,500 during his rookie year in 1951 and during his final playing years, his annual salary was estimated to around $ 100,000. Alex Rodriguez Has Finally Gotten His Last Paycheck From The MLB How Much Did He Make. The hit is said to have traveled 643 feet. In his sophomore year, he was kicked on the left shin during a practice game, and he developed osteomyelitisan infectious disease that was incurable just a few years earlierin his left ankle. Three years later, and again in 1963, batting left-handed each time, he smashed a ball into the third deck, within a few feet of the peak of the facade in right field in Yankee Stadium, and no one has come closer to driving a fair ball out of the park. [89], Major leagues, New York Yankees (19511968), Song and film appearances, depictions, and references. (2001) and The Greatest Summer of My Life: Billy Crystal and the Making of '61*' (2001). [10], Mantle was assigned to the Yankees' Class-D Independence Yankees of the KansasOklahomaMissouri League,[15] where he played shortstop. | Movieclip(2) |", "Tom Russell's Talents Still Shine Through", "Mantle, Yanks' Rookie, Loses Duel With Sun", "Mickey Mantle Inherits Baseball's Biggest Job", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mickey_Mantle&oldid=1142182139, September 28,1968,for theNew York Yankees, 1956 - Mantle made a (talking) cameo appearance in, 1962 - Mantle and Maris starred as themselves in the film, 1988 - Mantle appeared in the official video for, 1993 and 1996 - References are made to Mantle in the sitcom, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 23:52.