[...]... mickey mantle Elvin “Mutt” Mantle sits with his toddler son, Mickey, on the porch of their home in Oklahoma Mutt Mantle was an avid baseball fan and reportedly made sure that Mickey knew the positions on the baseball field before his ABCs Mickey was named after Mickey Cochrane, a star player with the Philadelphia Athletics whom Mutt admired Father Knows Best tablet near the ironing board,” Mickey. .. with their blessing,” Mantle recalled in his 1967 autobiography, Mickey Mantle: The Education of a Baseball Player For days on end, Mickey would play the “Alkali” fields near his home, where bases were often made of cow dung and the outfield went on and on, unbroken to the backyards of Commerce Mickey believed that in his early years there was no special skill that made him the baseball standout he... me to bat left-handed, but my father would not let me quit,” Mantle remembered in Mickey Mantle: The Education of a Baseball Player Mutt calculated that switch-hitters were a valuable commodity in professional baseball and would get more turns at bat Father was right Father knew best By the time Mickey turned 11, he was playing in organized baseball in the local Gabby Street League Hundreds would show... school, Mickey played many sports, notably football Though Mickey played some baseball for Commerce High, it was as a Baxter Springs Whiz Kid, in the Ban Johnson Father Knows Best Mickey Mantle is seen in a picture from around 1945 when he played for a team in Miami, Oklahoma As a teenager, his speed and his ability as a power hitter began to attract the attention of professional scouts  10 mickey mantle. .. roughly 650 feet 19 20 mickey mantle Weiss, with the blessings of Yankees owners Del Webb and Dan Topping, relented Then and there, Mickey Mantle signed a rookie contract for $7,500, just $2,500 above the minimum The ecstatic Mantle had become a “real” Yankee UNFIT TO SERVE Mantle was now ready to go; ready to play big-league ball There was a problem, however Uncle Sam wanted Mantle to go, too—go to... Word spread fast; Mickey Mantle was a four-sewer man 21 22 mickey mantle On the field, in spite of, or maybe because of, all the hype given him, Mantle got off to a slow start By the end of April, fans still had not seen one home run Then there were the strikeouts Mantle would swing at anything, always going for the long ball The results were a disaster In a doubleheader against Boston, Mantle struck out... would always call New York City Mantle was getting an education “You know in this great big city,” Tommy Henrich, the team’s right fielder said, as noted in Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son, “just base hits won’t do the job Heck, baseball is a form of education Mickey ll acquire a lot of culture out of baseball An overall polish.” To that end, Hank Bauer took Mantle shopping, to get him out... approached, Mickey Mantle, now dubbed “The Commerce Comet,” had become a forceful hitter with speed to match Professional scouts had taken notice A CONTRACT IS SIGNED On Friday, May 27, 1949, Mickey Mantle received his high school diploma He did not, however, attend the evening’s graduation ceremonies Having obtained permission from Bentley Baker, the Commerce High School principal, Mickey was off playing baseball. .. to hit, to get your confidence back!” 23 24 mickey mantle Confidence was slow in coming “That finished me,” Mantle recalled, in his 1967 autobiography “I could feel the tears of self-pity stinging my eyes.” The next 22 times at bat, Mantle went 0-for-22, not a single hit “Whatever I had had, I told myself, I had lost it now and my baseball career was over.” Mantle called his father and told him he was... where Mickey was staying, in a record five hours “If that’s the way you’re going to take this,” Mutt yelled at his son, as quoted in Mickey Mantle: The Education of a Baseball Player, “you don’t belong in baseball anyway Now you shut up! I don’t want to hear that whining! I thought I raised a man, not a coward!” The lecture worked “That, I think, was the greatest thing my father ever did for me,” Mantle . Ruth Curt Schilling Ichiro Suzuki Bernie Williams Ted Williams Mickey Mantle Mickey Mantle Ronald A. Reis BaseBall superstars MICKEY MANTLE Copyright © 2008 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved 1941– Mickey Mantle / Ronald A. Reis. p. cm. — (Baseball superstars) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7910-9546-1 (hardcover) 1. Mantle, Mickey, 1931–1995. 2. Baseball. writing 4 MICKEY MANTLE Elvin “Mutt” Mantle sits with his toddler son, Mickey, on the porch of their home in Oklahoma. Mutt Mantle was an avid baseball fan and reportedly made sure that Mickey