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AJ McKenzie
  • 2 days ago
The Commerce Comet
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
Transcript
00:00Number 7, Mickey Mantle.
00:02If you had an artist draw the perfect athlete, you'd just take Mantle.
00:10Mantle had gifts from...
00:13No, you wouldn't.
00:15This guy sounds silly, but I always thought of him sort of as a Superman.
00:24You were almost in awe of the talent that he had.
00:27I know Jeter is real big in New York, but Mickey owned New York.
00:33He just had that ability to stir people, to create that hum and buzz of excitement.
00:40Mantle, at his best, was one of the 10 best players who ever breathed.
00:44Yes, he was.
00:50Legend, a baseball hero, a name synonymous with excellence.
00:55Imagine being the man who had to replace DiMaggio in center field for the New York Yankees.
01:01Now, imagine that man exceeding expectations and forging a legend of his own.
01:07Mickey never thought of himself as being this icon.
01:09He never thought of himself as being this huge hero.
01:13Mickey Mantle, this icon, there was only one Mickey Mantle.
01:18I mean, he was a special guy in so many different ways, to so many different people.
01:23We lived in a town of about 200 people.
01:25And so, we had the black and white TV, and Saturday afternoon, I'm watching, and they said,
01:32and now the next superstar for the New York Yankees, the switch hitting center fielder from Oklahoma, Mickey Mantle.
01:38I said, Dad, you can be from Oklahoma and play in the major leagues.
01:42Now, you can be from anywhere and make the major leagues.
01:47And I said, that's what I want to be.
01:49And here, out of Commerce, Oklahoma, comes this touched with gold flash of baseball greatness named Mickey Mantle.
02:03And that was the perfect name.
02:06The perfect baseball name.
02:07Chris saw the game in his son's game.
02:16In baseball, there was going to be two left-handed hitters, pitchers, and right-handed hitters against left-handed pitchers.
02:22That was 1936.
02:24For Mickey, baseball was not only his fun, his play, but it became very early.
02:32I mean, 8, 9, and 10, his career.
02:34Mick told me when he was 5 years old, he knew what he wanted to be.
02:38He loved it.
02:39I don't think you had to force him to play.
02:41He loved it.
02:42But growing up wasn't all fun and games.
02:45The Great Depression hit Oklahoma hard, and Mickey's dad spent long days working in the lead mines.
02:51As a teenager, Mickey learned the true meaning of hard work.
02:56My junior and senior year in high school, I worked in the mines with my dad.
03:00He used to work in the mines with a sledgehammer, breaking, you know, pieces of lead zinc.
03:07Mickey never knew if he could do that and pick up that much weight and swing that much weight around.
03:14How hard is it to swing the bat?
03:18It probably made him a better player.
03:21Way of life, except that hardscrabble work ethic that Oklahomans had and most Americans had during the middle and end
03:30of the Depression.
03:31And that's what I did for a couple of years.
03:33And I always have felt that that's what built my back muscles and my forearms.
03:39I think one of the reasons I always had bad legs was that the top is bigger.
03:44I mean, people see me and they can't believe I'm not 6'4", 6'5".
03:47You know, I'm only 6' tall.
03:49But Mickey was big enough to play both basketball and football.
03:53In fact, folks expected that one day he would be the quarterback at Oklahoma University.
03:59But a devastating knee injury...
04:12...and then would be just into his bloodstream and beyond control.
04:15Oh, Mickey, he got just a whiff of that.
04:18He was ready to crawl out of the hospital.
04:20I don't think they ever got him under the knife.
04:23Well, Mickey obviously kept...
04:25...thanks in great part to a new drug called penicillin.
04:28His focus shifted, however, to baseball.
04:31And Yankee scout Tom Greenway couldn't help but take notice.
04:34The day he stopped to watch his play, I hit three home runs.
04:38Two right-handed and one left-handed in the river, which was pretty far off.
04:42And Tom Greenway, after the game, got a hold of him and he said,
04:46would you like to play with the Yankees?
04:47And I said, heck yeah, I'd like to play with the Yankees.
04:49He was there the night Mickey graduated with a check or two checks in his hand.
04:54And Greenway signed me to a contract.
04:56The bonus or signing figure was $15.
04:58How lucky is it to get to play with the multiple-time defending champions stacked with Hall of Famers?
05:06$100, which probably enabled Mickey to buy his first decent suit and clothes
05:11and probably enabled the Mantle family to upgrade the plumbing in their house.
05:16It went a long way.
05:18That was about the time that some of the guys were starting to get pretty good bonuses.
05:21And I think he was just playing me down to me so that I wouldn't ask for a big bonus.
05:26Greenway became not only the envy, but sort of the patron saint of every scout in baseball
05:31who dreamed of signing a Mickey Mantle.
05:39Coming up next.
05:40I read all those things about...
05:49You automatically think center field, but that was not the original plan.
05:59The Yankees initially thought of Mantle as a shortstop because they had plenty of outfields.
06:04The idea of being able to have a guy who could hit for average and hit for power and play
06:09shortstop.
06:10The mere thought of Mantle was enough to even intimidate the Yankees' current shortstop,
06:15a 10-year veteran and an MVP.
06:18I had my bags packed when I read what he could do.
06:22Outrun a rabbit and hit the ball over the moon.
06:24Rizzuto had been reading, too, that I was the best shortstop in the Yankee farm system
06:29and that I was going to take...
06:30He was getting kind of old and I was going to take his place.
06:33And after he saw me field about three or four balls, he said he didn't worry anymore.
06:36He knew I wasn't going to be a shortstop.
06:38When I saw him field, I unpacked him.
06:40He was not an infield.
06:42So the Yankees put Mantle in right field, simply a way station until DiMaggio retired,
06:47when Mick would make the move to center.
06:50We thought that Mantle was going to be a great player.
06:54And this was going to be my last year in 51.
06:57And we all felt that he could carry the load from there on in.
07:01New York fans couldn't wait for this 19-year-old phenom to make his debut.
07:07For they saw Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, and Joe DiMaggio all rolled into love.
07:14But once they got into the season, Mantle struggled.
07:17And he was overwhelmed, you know, by the sizes of the crowd.
07:22What Casey needed to do is send Mickey back to the minors
07:25so that he could relax, take some pressure off of himself.
07:30Mickey went down to Kansas City, but his slump just got worse.
07:35I had really lost my confidence now, so I called my dad down in the mines.
07:39I told him, you know, Dad, I'm in Kansas City.
07:41He said, yeah, I know. I've been reading.
07:43And I said, I just, I don't think I can play ball.
07:46You know, I mean, I can't even hit here in Kansas City.
07:49He said, where are you at?
07:50And I said, at the Aladdin Hotel.
07:52He said, I'll be right up there.
07:53So he comes up.
07:54I think he's coming up to, you know, give me a pep talk or something.
07:57He comes in the room.
07:58Mickey was crying.
08:00I can't make it, you know, and all this.
08:02And so he said, just get your suitcase out.
08:06Get your clothes packed.
08:07We'll go home.
08:07He said, I thought you were more of a man than this.
08:10I thought I raised a man.
08:11He said, I didn't raise nothing but a coward.
08:13He said, you ain't got no guts.
08:14You can just go back and work in the mines with me.
08:16He needed that kind of, you know, stern talk from his dad to say, hey, wake up.
08:21You want to go back and work in the mines?
08:22Well, it took me about an hour to talk him back and let me have another shot at it, you
08:26know.
08:27Finally, he says, okay.
08:28He said, I'm going to leave you here.
08:30He said, don't ever call me crying anymore.
08:31I said, you're better than that.
08:33You know, you're just having a slump.
08:34Everybody has them.
08:35You're going to be all right.
08:36Sure enough, after he left, I started hitting again.
08:38So Mickey worked his way out of the slump and within a week.
08:42And he was off and running.
08:44And I do mean off and running by his second season.
08:48By the time he returned, he was an all-star player.
08:55He was back in Yankee Stadium.
08:58And he was back to stay.
09:00Mickey had a solid rookie year, showcasing an awesome combination of power and blazing speed.
09:06A lot of people don't realize it, but when Mickey came up to the major leagues in 1951,
09:12he was perhaps the fastest player in the game.
09:15Mantle and the Yankees made it to the World Series in 51, but with DiMaggio hobbled by an...
09:21I don't know if he was faster than Willie Mays, but it's a close argument.
09:26Achilles heel injury in center field, Mickey was asked to do double duty.
09:31Casey said to Mantle, you catch everything you can get to from right field.
09:37So that's what was on Mickey's mind when he went into the game.
09:40I was playing center field, Mickey Mantle was playing right field.
09:44And this was the coming great star of the New York Yankees.
09:50There was a fly ball hitting the World Series, and Mantle was chasing the ball.
09:55Mickey was going full speed, just about ready to get close in on the ball and make the catch.
10:01And he heard this very calm voice a foot away from him say, I've got it.
10:07When I got there and he hollered, I got it.
10:09When I tried to stop, my back cleat was stuck in one of those rubber drains that they have in
10:14the outfield
10:14to keep the rain, you know, from soaking it.
10:16And when I stopped, when I tried to stop, my knee just went right out through the front of my
10:21leg.
10:21And his knee just blew apart.
10:24At the time, it was no big deal to anybody, because we didn't know that Mickey Mantle was going to
10:28be the great ball player that he was.
10:30He was just a kid that had come up.
10:34So no one put that much emphasis on the fact that he was going to be hurt that bad.
10:39Mickey could only watch him.
10:42He was just a kid that had come up.
10:51He just crumpled over on the sidewalk.
10:54Mickey didn't know it, but his father had one of the final days of Hodgkin's disease.
11:01We spent the rest of that week watching the games in the hospital at Lenox Hill.
11:05They operated on my leg, and then they told me that he had cancer.
11:09Muck Mantle only got to see his son play one year in the major leagues.
11:14Mickey grew up fast, enduring his first big league injury, and then marrying his high school sweetheart, Merlin.
11:21It's like I wasn't a kid anymore, you know.
11:23All of a sudden, I'm the man.
11:25And I didn't have my dad anymore to say, hey, you got to do this, you got to do that.
11:29So I'm saying, well, I've got to make myself bear down now, you know.
11:33I mean, I've got a lot of things to play for and work for.
11:37It made me realize that, you know, it wasn't just a game anymore.
11:41It was, I've got to really start working.
11:51Mickey Mantle had many great seasons for the Yankees, but one was truly special.
11:57For 1956, Mickey performed at the level of the all-time Yankee legends and beyond.
12:13The summer of 56, it really was Mickey's year.
12:17It just took me five years to do what they said I could do in 1951.
12:22He had suddenly matured a good bit.
12:25You know, he was now in his sixth season as a big leaguer.
12:29I think it's just experience, you know.
12:311956, I would have been 25 years old.
12:33I finally became, you know, a ball player, I guess.
12:37What can I say?
12:39Everything he did was perfect.
12:40He led the league in RBIs, home runs, and batting average.
12:43He did everything right.
12:45He was great.
12:4656.
12:48There's probably never one year that one player had, like Mickey had, when he won the Triple Crown.
12:55The Triple Crown is one of the very, very special accomplishments in all of sports.
13:04And Mantle took that accomplishment to new heights by posting numbers that surpassed everyone.
13:10Mickey led both leagues in home runs, RBIs, and batting average, and led the American League in an amazing seven
13:17offensive categories.
13:20It was no surprise when Mantle won the MVP award in 56, or that in the World Series, the new
13:27king of baseball rose to the occasion once again.
13:30Everyone always thought of Mickey Mantle, in the classic sense, as the big game player.
13:37There was never a better example.
13:39Yeah, the big game, big series player.
13:41Most World Series home runs, Mickey Charles Mantle.
13:50Example of that, in the 1956 perfect game, when Don Larson made baseball history for the Yankees against the Dodgers.
13:57In that game, Mantle's solo home run off Sal Magley gave Larson the only run he would need in his
14:04unprecedented achievement.
14:08Mickey Mantle, he's his third home run in the center.
14:12He also came up big in the outfield.
14:15And Gil Hodges hit the ball, I remember.
14:17Probably the best catch I'd ever made in my life, you know, because I wasn't really a Willie Mays or
14:22a Joe DiMaggio,
14:24but I could outrun the ball, you know, and catch up with it.
14:26And I did that one, I outrun that one, and caught it.
14:29Mantle was the silent hero in Larson's date with destiny.
14:34Here comes the pitch, straight three.
14:36A no-hitter, a perfect game for Don Larson.
14:40In a perfect season for Mantle and the Yankees.
14:52Mantle won the Hickok belt in 56, awarded each year to the most outstanding pro athlete.
14:57But the Mick didn't rest on his laurels.
15:00He fine-tuned his hitting in 57 with a more cerebral approach.
15:05That year, Mickey was more of the scientific hitter than he would ever be later and had ever been before.
15:14Mantle shows the quick hand action necessary for a high-speed swing.
15:18Mickey's stance is a spread of 24 inches, and he strides 20 inches.
15:24Almost all top flight hitters use a stride shorter than the original stance.
15:29Mantle won his second straight MVP award in 1957, as his newfound, thinking man's approach to hitting resulted in a
15:37career-high .365 batting average.
15:40Behind Mickey, the Yankees won the World Series in 58, but missed it one year later for just the second
15:46time in a decade.
15:47And that was unfamiliar territory for the Mick.
15:54When he went home to Dallas on the plane, after the last game of the season, knowing that there wasn't
16:01any World Series for the Yankees, he actually broke down and cried.
16:04He had become so accustomed to succeeding to the triumphs of October.
16:10To not be there, to have to go home humbly without winning a pennant, was almost a humiliation for Mantle.
16:20Coming up next-
16:21That's pretty soft.
16:22I mean, who cares if you don't win if you've won that many times?
16:31Mandle had come a long way from commerce in his first few years with the Yankees, but the transition was
16:37made easier thanks to some rather unlikely friends.
16:42I was a country boy from Oklahoma.
16:44Billy was a pachuco from Oakland, California, and Whitey was a street kid.
16:49None of our backgrounds were alike, and maybe that's the reason we got along so good, you know.
16:53We had a little bit of everything.
16:54It was just like brothers, you know. I mean, three different kinds of people, but we were all after the
17:00same thing.
17:01Billy, Mickey, and Whitey really were the three amigos.
17:04A wild bunch that played hard both on the field and off it.
17:08Some of their escapades produce stories that have become legendary.
17:13One of the stories that everybody wants to know about, it seems like, is the old Copacabana incident.
17:19We were all out celebrating Billy Martin's birthday.
17:22Sammy Davis Jr. was performing, and at a table next to him sat this bowling party, and this one drunken
17:31guy got up and started yelling racial epithets at Sammy Davis Jr.
17:36We didn't like that, and we kept telling him to be quiet, and so, anyway, it turned into a bit
17:43of a melee.
17:44Hank Bowen went into the bathroom of this fella and beat him to a pulp.
17:49But anyway, we all had to go to court.
17:51I said, well, I don't know, Your Honor.
17:52I was kind of in the background there.
17:54I was standing in the back, and I see this guy lying at my feet, and I picked him up,
17:59and I looked at him.
18:00It looked like Roy Rogers rode through there on Trigger, and Trigger kicked him in the face.
18:05And everybody got a big kick out of that, and the judge says, case dismissed.
18:11Bauer, Martin, and Mantle were all exonerated.
18:13But the Copacabana incident convinced the Yankee Brass that Billy Martin was a bad influence on the Mick.
18:20And it wasn't long before the Sparkplug second baseman found himself a member of the Kansas City Athletics.
18:27They sent him to, they sent him all the way halfway across the world.
18:34It pretty much might have been halfway across the world, because that was the furthest west MLB team at the
18:42time.
18:53It was obvious the Yankees considered Mantle the heart of the team.
18:57But it was Mantle's heart that really pulled the squad together.
19:02We weren't successful on the field.
19:04He took a great amount of the pressure himself for losing.
19:08He is a team leader.
19:10He inspired us as a team.
19:11And I think at that time, we had a team unity that you won't see in baseball.
19:16And I think Mickey was a valuable part of that.
19:18They used to say that I was the leader of the Yankees.
19:20I'm not sure that was true.
19:22It made me proud that they said that.
19:24He was a great individual.
19:28Especially with his teammates.
19:30Mickey was great.
19:31He brought a presence when he walked in.
19:33I sure enjoyed being around him.
19:35But boy, if you were Mickey Mantle's friend, you were a friend for life.
19:43Mantle stood alone.
19:45Without fanfare, he earned his teammates' undying respect.
19:51I saw Mantle as a visiting writer.
19:53And Mantle, the players loved and idolized Mantle because he played when he was hurt.
19:57It took him a half hour to bandage him up before every game.
20:00He had to be gauzed up and then taped.
20:03And then with a rubberized ace band, about a quarter thick, it looked like a fire hose, put around one
20:07leg.
20:07They said that the other players, even though they would have a small injury or something, wouldn't get out of
20:12the game because they thought I was playing with really bad legs or something.
20:16So it would make them play harder.
20:18And I was proud of that.
20:19That made me feel good.
20:21Mantle never let others know the extent of his injuries.
20:24It was just another reason why his teammates loved him so.
20:29He was a tremendous, tremendous team player.
20:32And I think a lot of things have always been left unsaid about how great he was in the clubhouse,
20:37how great he was with young players.
20:39Back in those days, they used to treat rookies pretty bad.
20:43But the moment Mickey put his arm around me, all that stuff stopped.
20:48He was absolutely, from a standpoint of team effort and teammate, outstanding.
21:00Coming up next.
21:01They appeared invincible.
21:04It was a feast and famine World Series.
21:07The Yankees would win by double digits.
21:10Yeah, Yankees outscored the Pirates by more points than the Pirates managed to score.
21:19They blew them out in all their victories.
21:22And the Pirates barely won in all their victories.
21:29The Pirates would be struggling to get six hits.
21:32And then the next day, the Pirates would squeak out a win three to two.
21:35And the Pirates kept staying in the series.
21:37What happened to them is like David and Goliath.
21:41You know, we were, we had such a great team.
21:44Mantle had a phenomenal series with three home runs and a 400 batting average.
21:50Still, the Pirates somehow persevered.
21:52The Yankees seemed to outclass them by so much and to dominate them.
21:57But they couldn't put them away.
21:58It's coming, we're going to get a high five ball going deep.
22:01It's coming, it's coming, it's coming.
22:04The Pirates win.
23:02Jesus Christ.
23:09In the clubhouse, he was embarrassed that Pittsburgh beat us.
23:15Following the loss, manager Casey Stengel was replaced by Ralph Houck, who had some fresh ideas for the Yankees' starting
23:22lineup.
23:24When we come out of spring training, Ralph...
23:26Spoiler, they worked.
23:28He told me that he was going to probably hit Roger third, me fourth, because he thought that it would
23:33help Roger.
23:34He said, you are our leader.
23:36Whatever you do is what we're going to do this year.
23:39And I took off like a ball of fire.
23:41I really did kind of carry the club.
23:45No, no, he didn't.
23:46He had 54 home runs and another guy, Maris, hit 61.
23:50I don't think he carried the club when there was another guy pulling his own weight.
23:57But either way, they combined for the most home runs by two players that were teammates.
24:07Manor led the charge in 61.
24:09A three-home run game in May was just the beginning.
24:12But every blasty hit was matched by Maris, and the home run race captivated the baseball world.
24:20There's never been that kind of challenge of two teammates.
24:30You had the element of Roger and Mickey challenging each other, and put that element together with the challenge against
24:38Babe Ruth.
24:39And you have the kind of drama that can't be captured in a book or in film or any other
24:45way.
24:46Madeline Maris, dial M for murder.
24:49And it was played out, which is the essence of...
24:51It can't be captured in film.
24:52HBO made a film about it called 61.
24:59Go tell that to HBO.
25:03Baseball, every single day.
25:08Maris and Mantle remained friends throughout, despite public perception to the contrary.
25:14Well, there was a lot of stuff written that we didn't like each other.
25:17That was the farthest thing from the truth that could ever be.
25:19I don't think I ever had an argument.
25:21I've been...
25:21Roger lived together that year.
25:23I can remember he used to come in, wake me up, slap me in the head, wake me up.
25:27And he got the paper, and he said, hey, Mick, wake up.
25:29He said, we're fighting again.
25:30There was no rivalry.
25:32There was no dislike, no distaste for each other.
25:33They loved each other, not just as ballplayers, but as human beings.
25:37Unfortunately, Mantle would have to drop out of the race in September, due to a bizarre
25:42set of circumstances.
25:44He had the flu or a virus of some kind, and somebody told him his doctor to go to, and
25:50he went and got a shot in his hip for it, and then the thing got infected.
25:55It was such an...
25:57Could doctors before 1980 do anything right with athletes?
26:04They almost Greg hooked him.
26:08Really raw, open area.
26:10You could almost put your fist in it, and that's what Mickie Mantle had been playing with.
26:16Always the consummate teammate.
26:18Mantle felt nothing but pride for Maris when he finally broke the record.
26:23Mantle always pointed toward what Maris achieved, said he outdid me, which was a very gracious
26:28thing to say.
26:29He was one of the best all-around baseball players I ever saw.
26:32He wasn't just a home run hitter.
26:33I mean, he had a great year, and I would like to say that I think that's the greatest single
26:37feat I've ever seen in my life when he hit those 61 home runs.
26:40The Yankees returned to the series in 61, and though he was still hurting, Mantle was a
26:46true warrior.
26:48Mickey went up and said, I'm playing today.
26:51So when Mick would talk like that, you listened.
26:54I think he dominated the scene at that time, the fact that he was injured, the fact that
27:00perhaps there was blood showing through his uniform, and yet he would play.
27:04And because he played, we all, I think, gave an extra effort.
27:08Inspired by the Mick, the Yankees won the World Series.
27:12Mantle was not surprised.
27:13The Reds, and I'm pretty sure Fred Robinson was like MVP that year of the National League.
27:22Best team I ever saw in my life, and I really believe this, was the 61 Yankees.
27:27I never got to see the 27 Yankees.
27:29Everybody says that was the greatest team ever.
27:31But it would have been a good series, I think, if we'd have got to play them.
27:38Coming up next.
27:40He was still doing a warrior.
27:42I can remember one of the New York papers running a photograph of a male with an arrow
27:48and a medical explanation pointing to every place in his body where he had been injured.
27:54But the remarkable...
27:54This looks like the injury description of a corpse that was in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
28:04This being the description of a living, breathing human being is insane.
28:10And then he went on, hits 30, 40 home runs, and wins the MVP and wins the World Series.
28:18That's not human.
28:21The remarkable thing was, in spite of all that, he still was having those 300 seasons,
28:26those 40 home run years, and more.
28:30Imagine missing a month of the season, yet still winning the MVP award.
28:35That's what Mickey did in 62, leading the league in both slugging and on-base percentage,
28:40second in the league in batting average.
28:43It was like he just ignored the injuries.
28:46They could slow him down, but they couldn't stomp him at all.
28:52Mantle simply took his pain and suffering and inflicted it on opposing pitchers.
28:58When I hit the ball good, I could hit it as far as anybody.
29:01Mickey invented the tape measure home run, twice almost leaving Yankee Stadium.
29:06I hit the facade twice.
29:08One of the times I hit it was a line drive.
29:10If it had just been about six inches higher, it would have made it out of the stadium.
29:15The ball just...
29:17I don't know if he hit the longest home run ever, but he probably hit the longest home run ever
29:22from somebody who wasn't on, you know, taking his vitamins and saying his prayers.
29:35He's headed at an angle just from the bat straight to the facade.
29:39There was no...
29:39This, it just went...
29:41It just looked like somebody took a gun and went bang.
29:44He was still performing.
29:46He was still doing heroic things.
29:51Especially in the World Series.
29:53Oh, crap.
29:53More home run than Mantle.
29:57Face to Mantle.
30:04The 64 World Series was Mickey's 12th and last.
30:08His record sixth with two or more home runs, including this game-ending blast.
30:14Hitting the most home runs of anybody ever in the World Series in a lifetime
30:19was a record Mantle was as proud of as any that he had.
30:24After the 64 season, the injuries continued to mount.
30:29But with the...
30:31Here's the payoff hit.
30:32This is it!
30:33There it goes!
30:35It's out of here!
30:36500.
30:37Hitting his 500 home run was a major thrill for him.
30:43It was a small...
30:45He was galloping like...
30:50Like a...
30:52Who...
30:53Who I just kicked in the leg.
30:55I mean...
30:57But he had to be around to hit that number 500.
31:04An exclusive club when Mantle joined it.
31:07I mean, he was a monumental career number.
31:12Mantle finished his career with 536 home runs.
31:16Number 535 against Denny McClain was one of his personal favorites.
31:21He was ahead like 6-0.
31:24He was having a great year.
31:25He came up almost to the plate, not quite.
31:28Called Bill Freehand, the catcher, out about 10 feet in front of me.
31:30And he says, I'm going to let him hit one.
31:34And I hurt him, you know.
31:35But you can't...
31:36Sometimes he's a little wacky.
31:38You couldn't believe him.
31:39He would go back out there and nail me in the back of the head.
31:42So he threw it hard, but right down the middle.
31:44And he got it where I wanted it.
31:46You know, hit it way up the upper deck.
31:48As I was around the bases, I come around third base.
31:50And I looked out at him.
31:51He went, give me a win.
31:56I like that.
31:57I like that.
31:58That's great.
32:00By the spring of 69, Mickey realized it was time to retire.
32:05But to those who were there, even a broken down mantle was still better than most.
32:11Well, let me tell you this.
32:13You know, Mickey retired because he said he just couldn't play anymore.
32:16He was our best ball player by far.
32:19And the only reason I think Mickey quit, we were a 500 team and Mickey was used to winning.
32:24I thought it'd be great to play without any pressure.
32:26Whenever there wasn't anything to play for, it was just...
32:29He should have quit his season earlier so he could have retired with a 300 or better average.
32:35The job.
32:36So it was time for me to quit.
32:38I was only 36 years old, and I didn't feel like that I had really accomplished what I'd set out
32:44to, you know.
32:45But I had to give it up.
32:47It was time for me to retire.
32:55Mano's 18-year career was so amazing, he was known as the Magnificent Yankee.
33:02Conduction into the Hall of Fame his first year of eligibility was a fait accompli.
33:07I think this is the first time it's ever happened that a guy has come into the Hall of Fame
33:11that was named after one.
33:13Before I was born, my father lived and died for baseball, and he named me...
33:19He named me Mickey Cochran.
33:22Sorry to interrupt.
33:24He named him after Hall of Fame catcher, I believe, Mickey Cochran.
33:28He named me after the Hall of Famer, Mickey Cochran.
33:36I'm not sure if my dad knew it or not, but his real name was Gordon.
33:41Hope there's no Gordons here today, but I'm glad that he didn't name me Gordon.
33:49Mantle entered the Hall of Fame because...
33:51Gordon Mantle sounds terrible.
33:53So, yeah.
33:55...of his skill as a baseball player.
33:58But for that and more, Mickey receives still another honor from the Yankees and the fans.
34:05The thing that I got the biggest kick out of, in 1969, the Yankees had Mickey Mantle Day at Yankee
34:11Stadium.
34:12If you're watching at home, I'm just, first of all, so very sorry that you could not be here.
34:17This is Pat Summerall.
34:19Number seven will never be worn again at Yankee Stadium.
34:23I think that says it all.
34:25Happiness is Mickey.
34:26This is one of the proudest moments I've ever had on this hallowed baseball ground.
34:34And I'm terribly privileged to have the honor to once again call from the dugout one of the all-time
34:43Yankee greats.
34:45The Magnificent Yankee, the great number seven, Mickey Mantle.
34:57They applauded for nine straight minutes.
34:59They would not be quiet.
35:00I mean, that's one of my favorite things today because we have tape of it.
35:04And I still get just really goosebumps.
35:07There was only one man who could...
35:09Why would they not have tape of it?
35:13Make this next and most significant presentation.
35:19Mickey's predecessor in center field as well as in the Hall of Fame.
35:23The Yankee Clippers, Joe DiMaggio.
35:37Come on.
35:40Mickey, I know just how you feel out here today.
35:44This is a nervous moment.
35:48But it's also a very thrilling one, too.
35:52Thank you, Paul.
35:53I'd like to present you...
35:57With this plaque...
35:59Which will be...
36:02Right along in an honest spot out there in center field.
36:10Mantle certainly deserved an honored place in Monument Park.
36:14But the Yankees went one step further to ensure the Mick would always stand alone.
36:21It's my honor to thank you on behalf of your teammates for the many thrills you have given us.
36:28Those clutch hits, booming home runs, great catches, and an occasional strikeout.
36:46Now number seven is B. Re...
36:49It's hard.
36:50The Yankees have asked me to get to you in this uniform.
36:57At that time, they'd only retired numbers three, four, and five.
37:00And that's for Ruth, Gehrig, and DiMaggio.
37:03They had to skip six and go right to seven.
37:06And they retired eight, too.
37:09I think.
37:11And to have your number retired along with those...
37:15You know, that's about as big a thing as could happen to a ball player, I think.
37:18And now, Mickey Mantle, Yankee Stadium is all yours.
37:25It came as no...
37:26But even on Mickey Mantle...
37:29All day...
37:30The Mick...
37:31The spotlight...
37:32With DiMaggio...
37:34The...
37:34The...
37:39If they give me one, his is gonna be just a little bit higher than mine.
37:44I think to the one that...
37:46To the greatest Yankee that I ever saw...
37:48I didn't get to see if they were able to, but Joe is the greatest one I ever saw.
37:52And I think that it's gonna be a great honor for me to present him with this flag.
37:56Thank you very much.
38:05You know, that was a really good day for Dad.
38:09You know, he was so proud of that.
38:11And he did such a good job with his speech.
38:14When I walked into this stadium 18 years ago, I felt much the same way I do right now.
38:21I don't have words to describe how I felt then or how I feel now.
38:26But I'll tell you one thing.
38:28Baseball was real good to me.
38:30And playing 18 years in the Yankee Stadium for you folks...
38:35Is the best thing that could ever happen to a ball player.
38:39Now, to think that the Yankees are retiring my number 7 with numbers 3, 4, and 5...
38:45Tops off everything that I could ever wish for.
38:50I've often wondered how a man who knew he was going to die could stand here and say that he
38:56was the luckiest man in the world.
38:58But now I think I know how Lou Gehrig felt.
39:01It's been a great honor.
39:04I'll never forget it.
39:05God bless you all, and thank you very much.
39:14It's a shame Lou Gehrig couldn't live to see a guy like Mickey Mantle.
39:27And the idea that he was going to have a short life, and he better live it fast.
39:33Alcoholism is a progressive disease, and it just got worse, of course, after he stopped playing ball.
39:42Even after baseball, Mick was often on the road.
39:45So his family looked the other way whenever he was at home.
39:50When Dad drank, just for us to be with him, if it meant drinking, I was going to do it
39:54because I wanted to spend time with him.
39:56Mantle's youngest son, Danny, was the first in the family.
39:59Man, his genes are strong.
40:04Maybe he had clones or something. I don't know.
40:07To fight his addiction, Mickey would soon follow.
40:11When I was in treatment, I mean, I was scared to come home because I was thinking, you know, everybody's
40:16still doing it.
40:18But, you know, I had no idea that it would be the domino effect that it was.
40:23Danny had gone into treatment, and he saw that Danny could do it.
40:28And he told Danny, he said, I wish I could do that.
40:31He said, you can, Dad, you can.
40:33With his family's support, Mickey put his old habits behind him.
40:39The family's renewal was both immediate and impressive.
40:45I saw a big difference in Mick.
40:48Everything became more important, I think, after he got sober.
40:52He became closer than he had been for many years with his family and had whole new relationships with each
40:59other.
41:08And they said, we have a liver.
41:12Given a second chance, Mickey began a crusade to increase awareness for organ donations.
41:17And to use his life as a warning to youngsters.
41:22I would like to say to the kids.
41:24He didn't last long after this.
41:26He lasted a month and a half, maybe, after this.
41:30So, it was, uh, I don't want to say it's a wasted effort, but talk about too late.
41:43Out there, to take a good, you talk about a role model.
41:48This is a role model.
41:49Don't be like me.
41:53Powerful.
41:54As powerful a moment as Mickey Mantle, who was the epitome of power with a bat, ever had.
42:03I want to start giving something back.
42:05It seems to me like all I've done is just take.
42:08Have fun and take.
42:10If you can say that, uh, somebody reaches their ultimate strength, their ultimate power at the end of their life,
42:18Mickey Mantle was a great example of that.
42:21But Mickey's cancer continued to spread.
42:25And it wasn't long before he was back in the hospital.
42:29In July, when, uh, he had to go back, I don't think it really hit me, but I think now
42:36I had a feeling that he wasn't going to come home this time.
42:40Mickey spent more than 30 years signing autographs for fans.
42:44Now, his fans reciprocated.
42:47As the current Yankees signed a ball delivered to Mick by his old teammates.
42:52We spent four hours in the afternoon with him.
42:55And, uh, Doc said, geez, that was the greatest medicine in the world for him.
42:59Mick loved it.
43:00He didn't seem to be sad, you know.
43:01I think when they came, he was just happy to see him.
43:04And I think that was good that he got to visit with him one more time.
43:09Mickey Charles Mantle passed away at the age of 63.
43:14I think he was just ready to go.
43:16He suffered a lot.
43:17I think he was ready to go.
43:20I'm glad that I was there, you know, to, uh, be able to hold his hand and I think I
43:24can remember him looking at us.
43:29Today we have lost one of our own.
43:32Our own.
43:34One of the greatest ballplayers in the history of baseball.
43:40Yankee Stadium dwarfs everything else.
43:42But when his mantle walked to home plate, it seemed like he was bigger than Yankee Stadium.
43:46The big muscles in his back and that seven.
43:48Oh, he was something else.
43:52Mickey's funeral, held in Dallas, was befitting the American icon he'd become.
43:59I think it showed really all the love and respect that, uh, you know, his fans and teammates and friends
44:05had for him.
44:06You know, what occurs to me is we're all sitting here thinking of Mickey.
44:11He's probably somewhere getting an earful from Casey Stengel and no doubt quite confused by now.
44:17He was more famous than the president of the United States and the people really showed it when he passed
44:24away.
44:28We tried to crease our caps like him, kneel in an imaginary on-deck circle like him, run like him,
44:36heads down, elbows up.
44:42I just hope God has a place for him where he can run again, where he can play practical jokes
44:47on his teammates and smile that boyish smile.
44:50Because God knows no one's perfect.
44:53God knows there's something special about heroes.
44:58So long, Mick.
45:01Wherever he is, I'm sure, I'm sure Billy Martin's there too.
45:10Mickey Mantle never really understood why people idolized him.
45:14After all, he did have a share of flaws.
45:20He's with you.
45:39The relationship is healing.
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