Mickey Mantle: Baseball Icon

Mickey Mantle played his entire 18-year major professional career for one team only; the New York Yankees. He was a sixteen-time All-Star, and named American League MVP three times. He played on twelve pennant winners and seven World Championship clubs and still holds the record for the most World Series home runs (18). Despite these formidable numbers, Mantle died at the age of 63 from liver cancer after many years of alcohol abuse.

The early role model for the talented boy born in Oklahoma was his beloved father. Mantle said of the man who died from cancer at the age of 39. "He was the bravest man I ever knew and no boy ever loved his father more." It was "Mutt" Mantle who taught his son how to be a switch-hitter and in the minor leagues, Mickey played shortstop. He also played football as a young man, and it was this game that almost ended his athletic career as well as his life. Kicked in the shin during a game, Mantle's leg became infected with osteomyelitis, a crippling disease from which his leg was saved from amputation by the newly available penicillin. He suffered from the effects of this disease for the rest of his life. This condition exempted him from military service, which didn't sit well with patriotic fans during the early days of the Korean War.

Fickle fans changed their minds about Mickey Mantle in 1961 after he finished second to Roger Maris in breaking Babe Ruth's home run record. He became a baseball icon, a legend idolized by many, all of whom were willing to pay dearly for anything associated with his golden touch. But Mantle's alcohol abuse slowly took over his spirit and his life. Well before he sought treatment, he admitted that his hard living had hurt his playing and his family. His wife and sons all completed treatment for alcoholism and he did the same, entering the Betty Ford Clinic in January of 1994.

Mantle died on August 13, 1995. He could have done better and so much more, had he but looked his demons in the face before it was too late. Nevertheless, he remains an immortal tribute to the talents and achievement of mankind.

Read his life story.

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