Mantle was/is my all time favorite ball player.
He could do everything well -- hit a 600ft homer - steal second - steal third - throw you out at the plate from deep center - and that was with bad knees.
When he was healthy no one could come close to his talent.
Re: Long live Mickey Mantle!
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 7:46 pm
by Nyte_Byrd
Mickey Mantle baseball card sells for record at auction
When I was in High School in Oklahoma, I was one of the few kids who was a Yankees fan. Most followed St. Louis and Stan the Man, but I loved the Mick and those late 50s early 60s Yankee teams were filled with great players. I never missed the baseball game of the week with Dizzy Dean and Peewee Reese brought to you by Falstaff Beer, with the cartoon "Old Pro" and his dog Searchlight, on our Motorola black and white set. I never saw him play in person but met him once after he retired and opened a restaurant in Irving Texas. He was gracious and outgoing with all the fans and gave everyone who came by a free baseball that he autographed and handed out himself. In a close game, I always prayed that The Mick would get one last chance to win the game, and I was rarely disappointed. But beside his homers, the guy was always dangerous due to his ability to lay down a drag bunt when hitting left-handed. He brought home a lot of runs that way, and when he was healthy, he could get from the plate to first faster than anyone I ever saw. An Oklahoma boy who made good and made Oklahoma proud.
