Topic: Mickey Mantle

Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995) was an American baseball player who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.

He played his storied 18-year major-league professional career all for the New York Yankees, winning 3 American League MVP titles and playing in 16 All-Star games. Mantle played on 12 pennant winners and 7 World Series Championship clubs. He still holds the records for most World Series home runs (18), RBIs (40), runs (42), walks (43), extra-base hits (26), and total bases (123). He is also the career leader in walk-off home runs, with a combined 13 in regular season and post-season play (12 regular, 1 postseason). He won the triple crown in 1956. He is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history.

Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, the son of Elvin Charles Mantle, a coal miner, and Lovell (née Richardson) Mantle. He was named in honor of Mickey Cochrane, the Hall of Fame catcher from the Philadelphia Athletics, by his father, known as "Mutt," who was an amateur player and fervent fan. According to the book Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son, by Tony Castro, in later life, Mantle expressed relief that his father had not known Cochrane's true first name, as he would have hated to be named Gordon. Mantle always spoke warmly of his father, and said he was the bravest man he ever knew. "No boy ever loved his father more," he said. His father died of cancer in 1952 at the age of 39, just as his son was starting his career. Mantle said one of the great heartaches of his life was that he never told his father he loved him.