Mickey Mantle

Mickey Charles Mantle was born on October 20th, 1931 in Spavinaw, Oklahoma. He was the son of Elvin and Lovell Mantle. His name came from honoring Mickey Cochrane, who is a Hall of Fame catcher. Mickey’s father died of cancer in 1952 at the age of 39, "No boy ever loved his father more," Mickey said. Mantle was a all-around athlete at Commerce High School, he played basketball, football and of course baseball. He became such an athlete that he was drafted and began to play for the Whiz Kids as a semi-professional team. Mickey went on to play for 18 seasons all for New York and became a legendary American baseball player. Over his 18 year career he won 3 American League MVP titles, 16 All-Star games and he played on 12 pennant winners and 7 World Series Championship teams. He still holds the records for most home runs in a World Series (18), RBIs (40), runs (42), walks (43), and extra base hits (26). He also has the most walk-off home runs with a 13. On March 1st, 1969 he announced his retirement. The uniform, number 7 was retired by the Yankees and is now hanging in the rafters at Yankee stadium. Mickey Mantle is known to this day as one of the greatest players to ever play in baseball history and also on of the greatest switch hitters of all time.

The 1964 World Series was a tough, hard fought seven game series that saw the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees four games to three. The Yankees appeared in 14 of the last 16 World Series would not play again in the World Series until 1976. The series featured a brother-against-brother match-up of Ken Boyer and Clete Boyer. They both started third base for their respective teams. The series also featured for the first time, all 6 umpires on the field at once. The smaller story however, might have been that this was Mickey Mantle’s last series. At the time people did not realize it was his last but it was one to remember. He hit three homeruns, raising his total a record setting 18 homeruns. In game 3 of the series, Mickey Mantle hit the first pitch into the upper right field stands for a walk-off homerun. It gave the Yankees a 2-1 victory.

• 1951: Debuts with New York Yankees
• 1956: Achieves Triple Crown
• 1956: AL MVP
• 1957: AL MVP
• 1962: AL MVP
• 1968: Retires from MLB
• 1974: Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1995: Passed away from Liver Cancer