Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 - August 13, 1995) was an American baseball player. He is regarded as one of the best baseball players of all time. He played his entire professional career for the New York Yankees.
He was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma. He was named in honor of Mickey Cochrane, a famous baseball player, by his father, who was an amateur player and fervid fan. Apparently his father was not aware that Cochrane's real name was Gordon, and in later life, Mickey Mantle expressed great relief that his father had not known Cochrane's real first name, as he would have hated to be named Gordon.
Mantle was a switch-hitter whose career was mostly in center field. He had played shortstop in the minor leagues, but on arrival at the Yankees became the regular rightfielder (playing only a few games at shortstop and third base in 1952 to 1955). He moved to centerfield in 1952, replacing Joe DiMaggio, who retired at the end of the 1951 season after one year playing alongside Mantle in the Yankees outfield. He played centerfield until 1967, when he was moved to first base. Among Mantle's many accomplishments are all-time World Series records for home runs (18), runs scored (42), and runs-batted-in (40).
In 1956 Mantle won the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year. On January 16, 1961 Mantle became the highest paid baseball player by signing a $75,000 contract.
Mantle announced his retirement from baseball on March 1, 1969 and in 1974 he was inducted into the United States Baseball Hall of Fame; his uniform number 7 was retired by the Yankees. (He had briefly worn uniform number 6, as a continuation to Babe Ruth's 3, Lou Gehrig's 4, and Joe DiMaggio's 5, in 1951, but the pressure on him that this caused led to his being switched to number 7 later in that season.)
Mantle received a liver transplant on June 8, 1994 after his liver had been damaged by years of chronic alcoholism, cirrhosis, and hepatitis C. Mickey Mantle died on August 13, 1995 in Dallas, Texas at Baylor University Medical Center after his liver cancer spread through out his body. He was interred in the Hillcrest Memorial Park cemetery in Dallas.
External links