Bobby Richardson, Yankees second baseman from 1958-66, reflects on his teammate, Mickey Mantle, in a N.Y. Post article linked below. Richardson signed with the Yankees at 17. He went on the field for BP and Mantle made sure he got his licks, ahead of Yogi Berra and that crew. Mick was 22 at the time. Two years later, Richardson got called up and Mantle lined up a photo opportunity on the field, knowing if he put his arm around the kid from South Carolina and pointed out to the field, the photogs would bite. They did.
Richardson mentions how the last-place Yankees begged Mantle to play two more seasons in 1967-68 to put fannies in the seats. Mick hit his 500th HR in 1967, which is when he should have retired. After hitting .237 in 1968, Mantle’s lifetime BA fell from .301 to .298.
I post this link to remind our younger fans that Mantle was a great teammate, a superstar who always looked out for the rookies. I have a pet peeve as I grow older that we only remember athletes for how they finished, instead of how they played in their primes. Mick drank a lot during his playing days, and it got worse after he retired. But his prime years from 1952-64 were not too shabby.
Mantle finally quit drinking a year before he died, and held a final press conference, telling people, “I am no role model.”
On his epitaph, No. 7 asked only for these words: Mickey Mantle: A Great Teammate.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/18/bobby-richardson-on-1960s-yankees-his-mickey-mantle-bond/
Richardson mentions how the last-place Yankees begged Mantle to play two more seasons in 1967-68 to put fannies in the seats. Mick hit his 500th HR in 1967, which is when he should have retired. After hitting .237 in 1968, Mantle’s lifetime BA fell from .301 to .298.
I post this link to remind our younger fans that Mantle was a great teammate, a superstar who always looked out for the rookies. I have a pet peeve as I grow older that we only remember athletes for how they finished, instead of how they played in their primes. Mick drank a lot during his playing days, and it got worse after he retired. But his prime years from 1952-64 were not too shabby.
Mantle finally quit drinking a year before he died, and held a final press conference, telling people, “I am no role model.”
On his epitaph, No. 7 asked only for these words: Mickey Mantle: A Great Teammate.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/18/bobby-richardson-on-1960s-yankees-his-mickey-mantle-bond/