Mickey Mantle

Five days a week, eight hours a day, the father worked underground in the Oklahoma lead mines, inhaling the bluish white dust of the zinc and dreaming of a better future for the child his wife carried. When their firstborn son was born on October 20th, 1931, Mutt named the baby Mickey after the legendary catcher “Mickey” Cochrane. Once the boy could hold a bat, Mutt drafted his own father to help train a switch- hitter. Five-year-old Mickey batted lefty against his father and righty against his grandfather.

They groomed a legend, a Hall of Famer, king of the monster hit. In the history of the game no one has hit the ball farther than Mickey Mantle. The good-looking country boy piled up home runs, world championships and MVPs with an endearing style that charmed his teammates and fans. Fathers smiled as their sons ran the bases with heads down, a’ la Mickey Mantle. They had all heard Mickey explain, “After a homer, I made it a habit to run the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases.”

Long after his playing days Mickey Mantle, baseball hero, stepped up to the plate again. Facing a press conference after his liver transplant surgery, he took full responsibility for the binge drinking that destroyed his health. “Don’t be like me,” He told the kids of America. “God gave me a body and the ability to play baseball. I had everything…I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to make up.” Tragically, the end was sooner than anyone knew.

In today’s southern quote we hear the insight of the late Mickey Mantle who once said, “A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.” – Mickey Mantle