The kid from Commerce

The Kid

I saw the Mick play in 1964 in the World Series against the St.Louis Cardinals. My mother said for over a decade he was the best there ever was. She never saw The Babe, or Ted Williams, and for all I knew, at age 8, she was right.

Born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, but known as that the kid form Commerce, he built a cult following that rivaled Ruth, Mays, DiMaggio, or Gehrig. He hit from both sides, and he could run faster. Duke Snider said, if his knees weren`t so bad, he could steal 50 bases each year. A little background on the greatest switch hitter to grace the game. Put on the Terry Cashman song, talkin baseball.

Mickey Charles Mantle was born on October 20, 1931, in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, to Elvin ("Mutt") and Lovell Richardson Mantle. A former semi-pro (professional but independent of Major League Baseball) baseball player, Mutt Mantle named his first child after Detroit Tigers catcher Mickey Cochrane. Mickey was barely out of diapers before he was practicing baseball with his father. Mutt taught his son to be a switch-hitter: Mickey would use his natural right-handed swing against his left-handed father and then turn around and bat left-handed against his right-handed grandfather. Teaching him to switch hit, at his age, imagine that.

Mantle played baseball, basketball, and football at his high school in Commerce, Oklahoma. During one game, however, he was kicked in the leg and developed osteomyelitis, a bone disease that would later affect his baseball career. Mantle attracted the attention of New York Yankee scout Tom Greenwade, who signed him to a contract of $140 a week with a $1,500 signing bonus. (US healthcare system is for the birds !)


Mantle reported to the Yankees' minor league team in Independence, Kansas, in 1949 as a switch-hitting shortstop. After two years in the minor leagues, the Yankees invited him to their major league spring training camp. He earned a place on the roster, and the New York media soon began comparing him to Babe Ruth and other past Yankee greats. Only 19 years old and two years out of high school, Mantle did not immediately live up to the public's high expectations. He started slowly in his new position--right field--and was sent back briefly to the minors. Mantle's first year in the majors was marred by inconsistent play and jeering from fans both in New York and around the league. His difficulties continued when, early in 1952, Mutt Mantle died of Hodgkin's disease at the age of 39. Mantle had been very close to his father, and he took the death hard.

Mantle was moved to center field when Joe DiMaggio retired from the Yankees following the 1951 season. He began to adjust to big-league play, and in 1952 batted .311 with 23 home runs and 87 runs batted in (RBIs). That season Mantle began to establish himself as one of baseball's premier power hitters. During one game against the Washington Senators, Mantle hit a ball completely out of Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. Measured at 565 feet, the home run is believed to be the longest ever hit. The New York Yankees won the American League pennant and World Series during each of Mantle's first three seasons, from 1951 to 1953. During the 1952 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Mantle batted .345 with two home runs. In the 1953 Series, again against the Dodgers, he batted only .208, but hit two more home runs.

In baseball`s greatest era`s ( the 1950`s ) , he was the greatest star.

Later in life he admitted that he should have taken better care of his body, but night clubbing with Billy Martin, and others likely cost him 5 more productive years. So would modern medicine, because those nagging knee injuries that caused him so much pain, could have better addressed with better procedures.

Countless American boys have since been named after him, or named sons after him, and his legend will live on.