First of all, I am glad that Aaron Judge is recognized as breaking Roger Maris's record and not Barry Bonds. This is only right that cheaters should not be rewarded. I hope that Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, and you can throw in Pete Rose, only get into to the baseball Hall of Fame if they buy an admission ticket at the front door like the rest of us. Mickey Mantle was the big hero of my 60's growing days, but I have always had a special baseball, the greatest game in world by the way, place in my baseball heart for the man from Hibbing, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota. Roger Maris was such a decent, introverted, square, honest, heckuva of a man who never received the accolades he deserved. Great all-around baseball player too.
David Halberstam said that Maris wasn't cut out for the media age.
"I don't want to be Babe Ruth. He was a great ballplayer. I'm not trying to replace him. The record is there and I want to break it, but that isn't replacing Babe Ruth." Roger Maris p.xiii
Mantle had his best season in 1957 with an on base pct. of .512. Today's analytics say this might have been the best baseball season ever.
"Throughout most of my life, I was a hero to many people. I was as big as Elvis. But what no one ever understood is that it never meant anything to me.' Mickey Mantle P. 1
There are family background similarities between Mantle and Babe Ruth. P. 26
Mickey Mantle was born on October 20, 1931 in a 2 room house on an unpaved road in the middle of Oklahoma. P. 34
For MM it all began with his father and the Oklahoma he came from. P. 36
Mickey Mantle was despondent over the winter of 1959, thinking he might be washed up as the Yankees handily lost the pennant race to the White Sox, but he brightened up when Whitey Ford told him the Yankees had acquired Roger Maris from Kansas City in effect sending four Yess to the A's for Maris. Mantle and family had just moved to North Dallas near his bowling alley.
Mantle fought contract talks with GM George Weiss, a penny pincher in the the time before collective bargaining and player agents . After the '58 season he wanted to cut Mantle's salary by 15% for the '59 season.
He was born Roger Maras before changing the spelling of Croatian descent.
Maris's parents had their disagreements. The mother may have been Serbian and Serbs and Croatians do not get along.
Mutt Mantle insisted that Mickey be a switch-hitter. Mutt threw left-handed so Mickey would bat right-handed against balls thrown by his father. His grandfather threw right-handed so Mickey would bat left-handed against his Grandpa Charley. They started out with tennis balls. Mutt forced Mickey to become a switch-hitter. He was a naturally right-handed. P. 49
In Mickey's childhood his father and grandfather were his playmates and closest friends. P. 50
Real baseballs took the place of tennis balls at age 6. During the summer he would practice as much as 5 hours a day.
Mutt Mantle believed that any kid could develop into a switch hitter if you taught him early enough. P. 51
In the middle of the depression in Oklahoma baseball was the only way he saw for his son to escape. P. 51
Baseball was a bond between Mickey's mother and father. P. 51
Living in Oklahoma Mickey grew up a Cardinals fan. P. 52
Mantle was not attached to his hometown, Commerce, Oklahoma. P. 52
The level of dysfunction in the Mantle family planted the seeds for addictive personalities throughout most of the family. P. 53
As a Yankee Mantle would one day endorse Camel cigarettes. P. 54
"A ballplayer has to be kept hungry to become a big leaguer. That's why no boy from a rich family has ever made the big leagues." Joe DiMaggio P. 57
Tom Greenwade was able to out slick the Mantles by signing Mickey for a paltry $1,500 with help from Mickey's high school principal whereas the golden boy at the time Jackie Jensen got $40,000. P. 58
Mutt was too impatient to get his son signed to a professional contract, but this was the depression era and Mutt was something of a fatalist. P. 63
OU wanted him to play football. P. 64
"When I first came to Yankee Stadium I felt like the ghosts of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were walking around in there." Mickey Mantle p. 69
Mickey professed to not understand the impact he had on people who worshipped and adored him so powerfully emotionally affected by him. P. 74
"Mickey Mantle was the last American hero. He was a walking to an age of innocence and a symbol and a symbol of a time when all was right with the world." Mickey's friend George Lois
I would only add that this view works with White America but I doubt that Mickey and his worshippers were aware of the civil rights movement.
Roger Maris certainly did not have the hoopla early on like Mantle but he might have been just as good coming out of North Dakota. P. 80
Maris could be difficult to manage. He had run-ins with managers. P. 80
Mantle's major league debut took place at Yankee Stadium on April 17, 1951. P. 108
When Maris had his slumps a lot of the cause might have been psychological. P. 128
Mickey married Merlyn on December 23rd in Commerce, Oklahoma with Mutt, barely able to stand serving as best man. P. 130
Maris may have taken his family more seriously than Mickey.
The author makes too much of Mickey Mantle as a cultural icon in the 50's and 60's. There is no mention of Willie Mays.
Mantle started in a blaze of glory in spring graining and early season in 1951 only to go into a slump with Stengel sending down to the minors in Kansas which precipitated Mantle having something of a nervous breakdown as he thought he might not make it in the majors. Mutt and Merlyn met him in Kansas City with Holly being there. I can't imagine what Merlyn might have been thinking. Mutt suggested returning to Commerce to work with him in the mines and told Mickey he didn't realize he had raised a coward. Of course, Mickey returned to the Yankees with Holly and the rest is history. Mutt did not warm to Holly. The impression is created that Mickey loved Holly the most but married Merlyn who fathered him four boys to please his father.
In that torrid 1961 season the likes of which we will never see again Maris was criticized unfairly. He said what he wanted to say not always knowing how what he said would be received. P. 198
Maris's season of immortality in '61 would not be fully appreciated until later. P. 200
I didn't realize until reading about Maris's #61 that Red Barber left the Dodgers in '53 and joined Mel Allen with the Yankees broadcast. His last yr with the Yankees was 1966.
Mantle made what he called his best catch ever in game five of the '56 Series to save Don Larson's perfect game. P. 207
A vitamin shot in the hip by President Kennedy's doctor of all doctors put Mickey in the hospital and doomed his chance to beat the Babe. P. 208
Mantle hit the first homer in the Astrodome in 1966. P. 235
Mantle's career declined greatly at the end as did the Yankee dynasty. P. 236
In his '56 triple crown year the ball looked as big as a grapefruit to Mickey.
The Yankees were never the same after firing Yogi after losing the '64 Series to the Cardinals. P. 238
The Yankee decline in 1965 was so abrupt. George Weiss was forced out. The National League rather than the American League was signing black players. Who did the Yankees develop other than Elston Howard. The Yankees lost their predatory relationship with Kansas City when Charles O. Finley bought the franchise in 1960. Then there was the firing of Yogi. P. 239
Mickey and Manager Keane did not get along. P. 241
"After Roger beat me in the home run race in 1961, I could do no wrong. Everywhere I went I got standing ovations." Mickey Mantle P. 243
Maris felt betrayed by the Yankees because they hid the severity of a hand injury from him. P. 244
Maris went on to play '67 and '68 with the Cardinals winning the World Series in 1967. P. 244
Maris wanted to retire after the 1966 season but Ralph Houk tried to convince him to stay, told him the Yankees were not going to trade him, but then they traded him to the Cardinals in December of '69. But Maris got the proverbial last laugh playing on two pennant winning teams and one Series winner. P. 245
Mantle last Yankee seasons in the late 60's were difficult to say the least.
The Yankees held four Mickey Mantle Days in the late 60's to fill the stadium attendance was so bad. P. 249.
The first Mickey Mantle Day was near the end of the dismal '65 season with a packed stadium. Joe DiMaggio introducing Mickey. The two were not enemies but friends who respected each other. P. 250
Mickey asked Paul Simon why he didn't use him rather than Joe DiMaggio. Simon said it was matter syllables rather than explain the complexity of a simpler time whereas the ignorant DiMaggio threatened to sue Simon. What do mean, where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? I'm right here! P. 251
Mickey struck out to a hard throwing you left hander on the first Mickey Mantle Day in 1965 and Mantle complained about it. P. 254
Roger Maris died on December 19, 1985, after a long bout with lymphatic cancer. P. 255
There never was an asterisk beside 1961. All mythology. P. 269
The asterisk beside the 61 was always invisible. P. 270
Mark McGwire finally came clean on his drug use and called Patricia Maris to apologize. I did not know this. P. 274
Roger Maris in the Hall of Fame is a long shot but that's the HOF"s loss. Aaron Judge has made Maris famous again. This has been a good yr for Roger Maris. His stature continues to grow. P. 275-276
Though hardly religious, Mickey Mantle was a WASP. The Croatian- American beat the WASP. P. 279
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