Category: Media

 

The Twins play the Yankees tonight in New York but there is something else going on in Yankee Stadium more important to me.  The Yankees are giving away 18,000 Mickey Mantle Triple Crown Bobbleheads to fans.  It was 60 years ago, in 1956, that Mantle won the American League’s Triple Crown, achieving the rare distinction of leading his rivals in batting average, home runs and RBI.

This is a timely day to pay tribute to The Mick.

Count me among the millions of adolescents who idolized the Yankees superstar centerfielder while growing up in the late 1950s and 1960s.  I had heroes like Willie Mays, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and a handful of Gopher greats including Bobby Bell and Sandy Stephens.  But no one was bigger to me—and much of America’s youth—than the incomparable Mantle.

Mickey was a god to us.  He was 5-foot-11 and weighed about 200 pounds.  Baseball people said he was built like “concrete” and moved faster than light.  I can’t remember who—maybe it was Billy Crystal or Bob Costas—who also said no ball player ever filled out a uniform like Mantle wore his.  With bulging forearms and a sculpted body, when No. 7 walked toward the plate fans were in awe.

Crystal and Costas—just like the John Q. Publics of the world—revered Mantle who was small town handsome with his blue eyes, blonde hair and impish smile.  I read that to this day Costas, now 64, carries a Mantle baseball card in his wallet.  My best Mantle cards are in a safe deposit box and I probably have lots of company on that.

In 1956 The Mick was at a tipping point in his career.  He joined the Yankees in 1951, not yet 20 years old.  The hype was already starting about this phenomenal talent from small town Commerce, Oklahoma who might just become the greatest Yankee of all time.  More heroic some day than Babe Ruth.  More loved than Lou Gehrig.  A better all around player than Joe DiMaggio.

Mantle was going to make a habit of hitting 500 foot home runs.  He was going to break Ruth’s single season record of 60 home runs.  Not only would he be the greatest switch hitter in baseball history, he would run to first base faster than anyone in the game.  He would steal bases with ease, and run down sure doubles, triples and home runs in center field where he replaced the graceful and sure-handed DiMaggio.

By the spring of 1956 The Mick was damn good but he wasn’t Superman.  He had led the American League in home runs in 1955 and three times helped the Yankees advance to and win the World Series.  He was a regular on the American League All-Star roster, but not the greatest player in the game on his way to being the best ever.

Nope.  Not yet, and maybe never.

Frustrated Yankees fans—with dysfunctional expectations—sometimes greeted Mickey’s plate appearances with boos.  The shy kid from Oklahoma was more mortal than Ruthian, and in the early Mantle years the paying customers in at Yankee Stadium weren’t happy.  In 1956, however, the Bronx boo-birds went bye-bye.

That year the 24-year-old Mantle apparently decided to ease up on himself and all the pressure he had felt in the past playing under the biggest of microscopes in New York.  The results were amazing and they fulfilled the daydreams of hero worshipping fans.  Mantle hit 52 home runs, drove in 130 runs and batted .353.

It was and remains one of the greatest seasons ever for combining power and batting average.  His slugging percentage was a career-high .705.  Mantle excelled in the field and on the bases, too, making big plays for a Yankees team that won the American League pennant and World Series.  Mantle won the first of his three career AL MVP awards, and his 1956 season was so admired he was honored with national athlete of the year awards.

Many who saw Mantle in 1956—ballplayers, writers and probably even little kids—will swear to this:  “Nobody ever played baseball better than Mickey Charles Mantle that year.”

In 1956 The Mick was the epitome of the five-tool player: run, hit for average and power, field and throw.  It was his greatest of 18 seasons in the major leagues, and even inspired him after retirement to write a book about that year—My Favorite Summer 1956.

Mantle would go on to have several other worthy seasons including 1957 when he hit a career high .365.  But there would only be a single other “one for the ages” summer for the great hall of fame slugger.  That came in 1961 when Mantle and teammate Roger Maris chased Ruth’s home run record.

By then Mantle was worshipped even by the impossible to please Yankees fans.  It was Maris that was greeted with boos at Yankee Stadium, not The Mick.  The gods of baseball, the fans thought, should let Mantle break Ruth’s record, not Maris who had played for two other big league organizations before joining the Yankees and was viewed as unworthy of comparisons to Mantle and The Babe.

The left-handed hitting Maris, having a career season and with a gifted ability to pull the ball toward the short right field foul pole at Yankee Stadium, broke Ruth’s record by hitting 61 home runs in 1961.  An abscessed hip hospitalized Mantle late in the season and slowed his chase of Ruth and Maris.  The Mick finished the season with 54 home runs, and left much of America disappointed that it was the Hibbing-born Maris who was baseball’s new home run king.

Mantle’s career was characterized by bad luck and physical frailties.  Even prior to reaching the big leagues he was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone.  In Mantle’s rookie year of 1951 he badly hurt his knee on a play in the outfield during the World Series. Severe knee issues dogged his entire career.  He also had hamstring problems and other challenges including a drinking problem and carousing.

Who knows how great Mantle might have been?  He had almost constant problems with his body, at times wrapping himself in so much athletic tape he looked like a mummy turned ballplayer.  He likely believed the boozing helped him deal with the pressures and insecurities of his fame.  Then, too, there was a family history of males dying young from cancer.  That made The Mick want to party and live for the day—even at the expense of playing at his best.

But that wasn’t the stuff we heard much about back when Mantle was a magazine cover boy and Teresa Brewer was cooing a record in 1956 called “I Love Mickey.”  Writers covered up the problems and demons afflicting sports heroes back in the 1950s and 1960s.

That made it easier for a little kid in south Minneapolis to worship No. 7.  I wanted to be just like Mantle.  I became a switch hitter, and I loved the good fortune that my nickname from birth was Mik.  In a schoolyard, out in the street or in the backyard, I tried to be Mickey.

When Mantle and the Yankees came to town to play the Twins starting in 1961, the series brought more excitement than Christmas.  Mantle, Maris, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard and all the rest.  This was baseball’s greatest dynasty led by baseball’s greatest hero.  Elvis and The Beatles were big—Mantle and the Yankees were bigger.

I collected every Mantle baseball trading card I could find.  Still own them all.  Maybe a couple dozen Mantles from the late 1950s and 1960s.  Even now there is so much enjoyment in looking at The Mick and recalling how great he was—and how much more he might have been.

Wouldn’t trade the cards or the memories for anything—not even a Triple Crown Bobblehead.

Comments Welcome

 

During a season of bad memories for Twins fans, a “nightmare” is back at Target Field—presumably for the last time.

The “nightmare” has a name, David Ortiz.  He and his Red Sox teammates play their only series in Minneapolis this weekend starting with tonight’s game and continuing through Sunday.  The 40-year-old designated hitter has said this is his last Major League season.  If so, local fans won’t be so “haunted” in the future by an All-Star slugger who could have had a dreamy career in this town.

In late August of 1996 the Twins acquired Ortiz in a trade with the Mariners for third baseman Dave Hollins.  The move could have turned out to be the best ever made by general manager Terry Ryan.  Ortiz was a minor league prospect and first baseman when he joined the Twins, but he participated in 15 big league games starting in 1997 and was with the club at least portions of each season through 2002.  During his last year with the Twins he hit 20 home runs and drove in 75 runs.

In the 2002 offseason Ortiz was arbitration eligible and the Twins had to make a decision whether to pay him more money and keep him around.  The club had veteran Doug Mientkiewicz at first base and in the minors there was a converted catcher prospect named Justin Morneau.  The Twins decided to move on without Ortiz so the Red Sox signed the then first baseman.

Ryan has acknowledged he made a bad decision releasing Ortiz, while the Red Sox front office has been high-fiving from the beginning of the Ortiz era.  His first season in Boston, he hit 31 home runs and drove in 101 runs.  Perhaps the greatest hitter in Red Sox history except for the immortal Ted Williams, Ortiz has 519 career home runs.  Only 21 big leaguers have ever hit more.

Ortiz has been a major contributor to the best run in Red Sox history starting in 2004.  He has played on three World Series championship teams during that span and was the 2013 series MVP.

This season the Red Sox, 34-25, are contenders in the American League East.  Guess who is leading the club in most major hitting categories?  Yeah, it’s the old man who is batting the ball around ballparks so productively he is a candidate to win the Triple Crown.

Ortiz is hitting .338 with 16 home runs and 55 RBI.  He ranks third in average, and fourth in home runs among American League hitters, and is first in RBI.  He is also the league leader in slugging and on-base percentages.

In other words, the Twins still miss this guy even as he approaches his 41st birthday in November and makes a farewell tour of MLB parks.  The Giants honored him in San Francisco earlier this week and the Twins will do the same this weekend.

Among Twins players who will have some of their last looks at the man nicknamed Big Papi is Miguel Sano.  Too bad the 6-3, 230-pound Ortiz isn’t in a Twins uniform where he could mentor Sano.  Both players are from the Dominican Republic.  Sano is 22 years old and has Big Papi potential but his professional approach to his work is being questioned.  As a Twin, Ortiz could have been a mentor, a major influence on Sano who has struggled learning to play right field and has seen his batting average fall drastically from last season’s .269.

Ortiz has shaped a good-guy image off the field.  He has developed the David Ortiz Children’s Fund that assists kids in New England and the Dominican Republic with pediatric care.  In 2011 he was honored with the Roberto Clemente Award given annually to a major leaguer who best represents the game on and off the field.

Yes, when the Twins parted ways with Ortiz they said goodbye to an eventual megastar and leader.  But if you want to remember—and not forget him—here are a couple of suggestions.  Show up at Target Field this weekend, or visit Bigpapi.com where his website celebrates “the end of an era with David Ortiz.”   Memorabilia available for purchase ranges from coffee cups to bases.

Worth Noting

With a major league worst 17-40 record, the Twins aren’t headed for any championships this season but 25 years ago the franchise had a club that would win the 1991 World Series.  That team started slow but took off in June with a season best month of 22-6.

Minnesota native Harvey Mackay and wife Carol Ann are in Louisville today for the Muhammad Ali memorial service.  The two have been close friends of Ali, who died last week, and his spouse Lonnie Ali.  The couples frequently enjoyed dinners together.

The service for Ali will be held at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville this afternoon with about 15,000 expected to attend and millions following the event around the world.  Celebrities expected include Bill Clinton, Billy Crystal, Bryant Gumbel, Steve Wynn and heads of state.

The outpouring of sympathies extended to Lonnie and the Ali family has come from various parts of the world as media coverage reported the passing of a man whose popularity transcended his legendary boxing career.  “In my lifetime I have never seen anything like the media explosion on his passing.  He had the most recognizable face in the world,” said Mackay, a 1954 University of Minnesota graduate.

Mackay, who played golf for the Gophers before establishing Minneapolis-based Mackay Envelope and becoming a New York Times bestselling author, has drafted an article on Ali for his syndicated business column.  The column focusing on lessons learned from Ali will be printed in a couple of weeks in various U.S. newspapers including the Star Tribune.

Timberwolves fans may do a double take when they next see Tyus Jones.  The Minnesota native and Wolves point guard has changed his body, becoming more muscular with off-season training this spring in California.

The Minnesota Wild announced that $15,635 was raised as part of the event held at the BMO Harris Bank in Edina last month to help support people affected by the devastating wildfires around Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada.  Wild players Erik Haula, Zach Parise, Jason Pominville, Nate Prosser, Jared Spurgeon and Jason Zucker signed autographs for fans who donated $50 and the Minnesota Wild Foundation is providing an additional $5,000 to the Red Cross.   All proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross to support those affected by the wildfires in Alberta.

With free admission to the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am, the public is welcome to watch professional and amateur golfers at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul.  The men’s event begins today, with competition continuing through Sunday.  The women’s event will be Saturday and Sunday.

The men’s field includes last year’s champion Ryan Helminen who three times has won the tournament.  Seven-time champ Don Berry and four-time winner Dave Tentis will also play.  Two-time titlist Martha Nause is part of the women’s field.

For over 44 years the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am has been raising money to help people with developmental disabilities.  The Tapemark has raised and donated more than $7 million to nonprofits serving the disabled and their families.  More at Tapemarkgolf.org.

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