In 1960, he Mantle hit was is still believed to be the longest home run in history. 1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle Yankees Card #101 HOF - Certified SGC 1. He played in 2,401 games and went to bat 8,102 times -- more than any other Yankee -- and delivered 2,415 hits for a .298 batting average. With 37 homers, he was now a home run hitter, not just an all-around player with tremendous power. While "The Mick" patrolled center field and batted clean-up between 1951 and 1968, the Yankees won 12 American . "Everywhere I go," he said, "guys come up and shake hands and say, 'Good job, Mick.' On August 12, 1964, he hit one whose distance was undoubted: a center field drive that cleared the 22-foot (6.7m) batter's eye screen, some 75' beyond the 461-foot (141m) marker at the Stadium. [citation needed], On January 16, 1961, Mantle became the highest-paid player in baseball by signing a $75,000 (equivalent to $680,000 in 2021) contract. He was safe 8 out of 10 times in which he attempted to steal a base. During Game 5 of the 1956 World SeriesDon Larsen's perfect game against the Brooklyn DodgersMantle kept the perfect game alive by making a running catch of a deep fly ball off the bat of Gil Hodges, and provided the first of the two runs the Yankees would score with a fourth-inning home run off Brooklyn starter Sal Maglie. Mantle was not entirely discreet about them, and at his retirement ceremony in 1969, he brought his mistress along with his wife. Mantle's signature is valued at $100 to $125. The recent sale of a mint Mickey Mantle card for $2.88 made headlines. How much was Mickey Mantles net worth at the time of his death? [59][60], Mantle allegedly took his first drink of alcohol at age 19, when teammate Hank Bauer gave him a beer that he "chugged as if it were soda pop", according to baseball historian Frank Russo. [66] The Yankees played the Indians that day and honored him with a tribute. Mantle played for the New York Yankees his entire Major . That year, he brought home both the Triple Crown and the first of three Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Awards. American professional baseball player Mickey Mantle had an estimated net worth of $12 million dollars at the time of his death, in 1995. Talent". He acknowledged that some of them were self-inflicted, especially drinking, a habit that had seemed harmless enough when crowds were cheering and he was playing and hitting home runs despite an occasional hangover. During the game, Mantle hit three home runs. Signed mid-to-late 1950s Topps cards (excluding All-Star cards) sell for $1,000 to $2,000. "[19] Bill Dickey called Mantle "the greatest prospect I've seen in my time. I had everything and I just . After an impressive spring training, Yankees manager Casey Stengel decided to promote Mantle to the majors as a right . He was the blond, muscled switch-hitter who joined the Yankees at 19 in 1951 as DiMaggio was winding down his Hall of Fame career. Some now call this his last home run at Yankee Stadium. On December 23 1951, Mantle married Merlyn Johnson in Picher, Oklahoma. In addition, compared to the other four center fielders on the All-Century team, he had the lowest career rate of grounding into double plays, and he had the highest World Series on-base percentage and World Series slugging percentage. He was carried off the field on a stretcher and watched the rest of the World Series on TV from a hospital bed. The next summer, at 18, he played Class C ball in Joplin, Mo., where he hit .383 but made 55 errors in 137 games at shortstop, mostly on wild throws to first base. "No boy ever loved his father more," he said. All net worths are calculated using data drawn from public sources. And after leaving the Betty Ford Center, he seemed to be a revived person. Those words were carved on the plaque marking his resting place at the family mausoleum in Dallas. Mantle became a Christian when his former teammate Bobby Richardson, a Baptist, shared his faith with him. In addition to his wife and son David, he is survived by two other sons, Danny and Mickey Jr. Funeral services are scheduled for 2 P.M. Tuesday at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas. After adjusting for inflation, he earned around $9 million from his various contracts. Mickey Mantle was one of the greatest players in MLB history for nearly two decades with the New York Yankees. He delivered a farewell speech on Mickey Mantle Day, June 8, 1969, at Yankee Stadium. He is best known for setting a new MLB single-season home run record with 61 home runs in 1961. He has the third highest career OPS+ among MLB players who played the majority of their career after 1950, behind only Barry Bonds and Mike Trout. The 1952 Mantle rookie card, which was in mint. And from 1960-64, with the addition of Roger Maris, they won five pennants and two World Series. Mantle was hospitalized with an abscessed hip resulting from a flu shot that he had received late in the season, leaving Maris to break the record (he finished with 61). The following year, Mantle moved to center field. After Mantle graduated from high school, Greenwade returned to sign Mantle to a minor league contract. Mantle was so insecure that he remembered later how he had ducked DiMaggio, even though he was playing his final season in center field and Mantle, who had been converted from shortstop to the outfield, was playing alongside him in right. With Mantle established in the lineup, they won the pennant seven times and the Series five times in the next eight years. [26] Mantle made the AL All-Star team as a reserve player in 1959, as his numbers had tailed off from previous seasons, he was used as a pinch runner for Baltimore Orioles catcher Gus Triandos and replacement right fielder for Cleveland Indians Rocky Colavito in the first game with Detroit Tigers Al Kaline playing the center field position. Mickey Mantle was an American professional baseball player. He won the Western Association batting title and was then invited to the Yankees instructional camp before the 1951 season. Mantle began his professional career in baseball in Kansas with the semi-professional Baxter Springs Whiz Kids. In that season, he also hit another long home run at Yankee Stadium to left-center field that was reported to have traveled 502 feet. [10] However, Mantle struggled defensively at shortstop.[10]. Mantle had his first 100 plus RBI year, in 1954, in a full season and regained .300 status. He always had that country boy attitude that made you feel at ease. Mantle spoke with remorse about his drinking in a 1994 Sports Illustrated cover story. When he arrived, he started packing his son's clothes and, according to Mantle's memory, said "I thought I raised a man. And at the request of his son Danny and Pat Summerall, the former football player and current television broadcaster, he checked into the Betty Ford Center in 1994. [39] In roughly 25% of his total at-bats he hit .330 right-handed to .281 left. Other times, he would leave fake snakes, bugs, or frogs around for Phil Rizzuto to find. The Yankees started Mantle at Independence, Kan., where they had a Class D minor league club. Mantle hit some of the longest home runs in Major League history. (His batting average closed 61 points lower than the previous year). He came out of the clinic a chastened figure, and his frailty was reinforced by the public decline in his health since June. Mickey Mantle, with his death Sunday at 63, passes from these pages forever and becomes the property . Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 23:52, Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Awards, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery, Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle, List of Major League Baseball retired numbers, List of Major League Baseball home run records, List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders, List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders, List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders, List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders, List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders, List of Major League Baseball career total bases leaders, List of Major League Baseball batting champions, List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders, List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders, List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders, List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders, List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise, "Longest Home Run Ever Hit by Baseball Almanac", "On what would have been his 80th birthday, Mickey Mantle's World Series home run record still stands", "New York 500 Home Run Club Mickey Mantle Yankees", Elven Charles "Mutt" Mantle + Lovell Velma Richardson PhpGedView, "Mickey Mantle Minor League Statistics and History", "Dickey Calls Mickey Mantle Best Prospect He Ever Saw", "Talkin' Matt Wieters and the concept of hype, with Bill James", "All-time and Single-Season World Series Batting Leaders Baseball-Reference.com", "Stunned Mantle Again Named 'Most Valuable', "Mickey Mantle 1961 Back in Time: January 1961 Photos SI Vault", "MANTLE'S HOMER SUBDUES A'S, 8-7; Clout in 11th Almost Clears Stadium--Two-Out Drive in 9th Ties Yankees", "July 9, 1963: Mays leads NL stars in return to single All-Star Game - Society for American Baseball Research", "Yanks' Woes of '08 Eerily Similar to '65", "Flashback: When Texas Opened the 8th Wonder of the World", "Midsummer Classics: Celebrating MLB's All-Star Game", "Jeter adds games played to his Yanks records", "Mickey Mantle Almost Gave Up Switch-Hitting in 1960", "Mickey Mantle Career Home Runs Baseball-Reference.com", "The Lantern 19 May 1969 Ohio State University Newspaper Archives", "Yankees' Old-Timers' Day never gets old | Newsday", "Mickey Mantle Society for American Baseball Research", "Mickey Mantle Strikes Out, Then Hits a Homer", "Merlyn Mantle, widow of Yankee icon Mickey Mantle, succumbs to Alzheimer's disease at age 77", "Brett Favre, Tiger Woods, Sports Bad Boys Couldn't Touch Mickey Mantle", "Mickey Mantle's Nephew Has 2 Gay-Themed Plays in Chicago", "Sandomir, Richard. 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card gets police escort (NCD) (NCD) DENVER It's known as the Holy Grail of post-World War II baseball cards. As a teammate, he never complained about his injuries and always tried to lead by example. He led the American League in home runs four times (in 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1960) and led the league in almost everything in 1956, when he won the triple crown with these totals: a .353 batting average, 130 runs batted in and 52 home runs. His on-base percentage was .400, for the year. Key points: Mickey Mantle played for the New York Yankees between 1951 and 1968, winning seven World Series titles The 1952 card, considered to be in near perfect condition, was bought for $US50,000 in 1991 How much did Mickey Mantle weigh when playing? I think I hit two more home runs that night. Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma in October 1931 and passed away in August 1995. Among his many accomplishments are all-time World Series records for home runs (18), runs scored (42), and runs batted in (40).[21]. During his 18-year career with the Yankees, the switch-hitting slugger hit 536 home runs and was voted the AL Most Valuable Player three times (195657, 1962). "Then Ralph Houk came along and changed my whole idea of thinking about myself. [citation needed] Another Mantle homer, hit right-handed off Chuck Stobbs at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. on April 17, 1953, was measured by Yankees traveling secretary Red Patterson (hence the term "tape-measure home run") to have traveled 565 feet (172m). Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma in October 1931 and passed away in August 1995. "Casey Stengel was like a father to me," Mantle said. "[77] In response, DiMaggio's plaque was hung one inch higher than Mantle's. [61] Before Mantle sought treatment for alcoholism, he admitted that his hard living had hurt both his playing and his family. His children also suffered from alcoholism and substance abuse problems. After an impressive spring training, the Yankees manager decided to promote Mantle to the major league team as a right fielder. At Mantle's funeral, Eddie Layton played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on the Hammond organ because Mickey had once told him that it was his favorite song. The Daily News reported it as a 502-foot homer. I'm not going to lie to you: The next drink you take may be your last.". 1959 was the first of four consecutive seasons that two All-Star games were played and Mantle played in seven of these games. Mantle's parents drove him at midnight to Oklahoma City, where he was treated at the children's hospital with the newly available penicillin, which reduced the infection and saved his leg from amputation. Mantle batted left-handed against his father when his father pitched to him right-handed, and he batted right-handed against his grandfather, Charles Mantle, when he pitched to him left-handed. When Mantle called it quits in March 1969, he became a restaurateur, television commentator, and appeared in numerous commercials for various products. He undoubtedly spread it to his own children. I jumped up and tried to catch it, and got my foot caught in the wire mesh on the fence, and that time I broke my foot about halfway up.". He even got me out of the commencement exercises so I could play ball because he was thinking of signing me for the Yankees. When Greenwade came back a week later, he said he'd give me a $1,500 bonus and $140 a month for the rest of the summer. "[18], After a brief slump, Mantle was sent down to the Yankees' top farm team, the Kansas City Blues. Net Worth: $10 Million Date of Delivery: Oct 20, 1931 - Aug 13, 1995 (63 years previous) Place of Delivery: Spavinaw Gender: Male Top: 5 ft 11 in (1.82 m) Career: Baseball participant Nationality: United States of America What was Mickey Mantle's Net Worth? Mickey Mantle was an American skilled baseball participant who had a "No, I'm still alive," Mantle responded. [41], Mantle was also one of the best bunters for base hits of all time. Mickey Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma in October 1931 and passed away in August 1995. Mantle was interred in the Mantle Family Mausoleum, located in the St. Matthew Section of the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas. In 1994, he checked into the Betty Ford Clinic, where doctors diagnosed him with cirrhosis, hepatitis, and cancer of the liver. He became one of the damaged demigods of sport, but he played with such natural power that he remained the key figure on a team achieving towering success for the fifth straight decade. [86], In August 2022, a 1952 Topps baseball card (Topps; 1952; #311; SGC MT 9.5) in mint condition sold for $12.6 million, a record for sports memorabilia at the time. His knee twisted awkwardly and he instantly fell. Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 - December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). [51], Mantle worked as a customer-relations representative for the Dallas Reserve Life Insurance Company. Five years earlier, in 1956, Mantle had challenged Ruth's record for most of the season, and the New York press had been protective of Ruth on that occasion also. Over the course of time, however, Mantle (with a little help from his teammate Whitey Ford, a native of Queens) had learned to deal with the New York media and had gained the favor of the press. Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports. Mickey Mantle Height, Weight & Measurements At 64 years old, Mickey Mantle height is 6' (1.83 m) . He remembered what his doctor told him then: "Your liver is still working, but it has healed itself so many times that before long you're just going to have one big scab for a liver. Mantle played for the New York Yankees his entire Major . He hit 13 home runs in 96 games. He always talked about his love for the game. Mickey Mantle was an American professional baseball player who had a net worth of $10 million at the time of his death. His wife is Merlyn Mantle (23 December 1951 - 13 August 1995) ( his death) ( 4 children) Mickey Mantle Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. Mantle died at 2:10 A.M. Eastern time at Baylor University Medical Center, succumbing to the disease that had spread from his liver to most of his other vital organs. Music! When you consider how successful Mantle was for such a sustained period of time and how other players made the same or more money, he was vastly underpaid for his career. [74], Mantle was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1964. Mantle's doctors insisted that the transplant was based solely on medical criteria, but acknowledged that the very short wait created the appearance of favoritism. He was a center fielder who was a switch-hitter and threw right handed. His spouse is Merlyn Mantle (m. 1951-1995). In spite of short foul pole dimension of 296 feet (90m) to left and 301 feet (92m) to right in original Yankee Stadium, Mantle gained no advantage there as his stroke both left and right-handed drove balls there to power alleys of 344' to 407' and 402' to 457' feet (139m) from the plate. He was 84. Mickey Mantle weighed 195 lbs (88 kg) when playing. Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels. The following two seasons were more frustrating for Mantle, though he still played comparatively well and made the all-star team as a reserve player in 1959. In both 1953 and 1961, he hit into only two double plays, over the course of 1,186 plate appearances.