The opportunity to see Mantle was never to be missed, even on TV. Close your eyes and you can still see No. 7 coming to the plate in Yankee Stadium. In his wonderful baritone voice, legendary public announcer Bob Sheppard says, “No. 7 Mickey Mantle. No.7.” It is the voice of God introducing a superhero.
By the 1960’s, when major league baseball was first being played here, you weren’t sure if Mantle’s afflictions would keep him from playing against the Twins at Metropolitan Stadium. The stands were packed when the Yankees were in town and there was reverence when Mantle came to the plate.
Mantle was often booed early in his career but by 1961 he was a hero to most baseball fans throughout the country. Critics went after Mantle in the early years because he didn’t measure up to their expectations. Hyped as potentially the greatest player of all time meant that a .300 season and 40 home runs weren’t good enough.
Mantle hushed a lot of the boos in 1956, his best season. Not yet 25, he won baseball’s revered Triple Crown hitting .353, with 52 home runs and 130 RBI. Back then Mantle could run better than in his later years and he had yet to injure his right throwing arm that was among the strongest in baseball.
Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog was a big league player during much of Mantle’s era including 1956. He followed a center fielder and base runner who could run and throw with baseball’s best, and a batter that flirted with a .400 average, hit home runs more frequently than anybody playing, and sometimes slugged balls so far nobody was sure where they landed.
“Nobody could play baseball better than Mickey Mantle played in it in 1956,” Herzog said in Jane Leavy’s book.
But even that year didn’t win over the more irrational Mantle critics. When he hit .365 in 1957 and “only” 34 home runs, there were fans who wanted more. And there were people who never accepted the Army draft board verdict that Mantle was exempted from military service because of his osteomyelitis. “If he can play baseball, why can’t he be in the Army,” they growled.