The Mick. The Commerce Comet. One of the best to play the game.
Those are just some of the monikers Mickey Mantle earned over the course of his baseball career, all with the New York Yankees. Mantle died on Aug. 13, 1995, at the age of 63 from liver cancer.
Mantle was born Oct. 20, 1931, in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, and was christened “Mickey” in honor of Mickey Cochrane, a Hall of Fame catcher. His family moved to nearby Commerce when he was 4.
Mantle began his professional baseball career in Kansas with the semi-professional Baxter Springs Whiz Kids. He was spotted by a Yankees scout in 1948. The team signed Mantle to a minor league contract after he graduated high school. He made his debut with the big league club as a 19-year-old rookie in 1951.
Mantle was a center fielder, right fielder and first baseman. He became one of the greatest switch hitters in baseball history.
Mantle is 16th all time in home runs per at-bats. He won the MVP Award three times, came in second three times and came within nine votes of winning five times.
Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956, when he led the major leagues in batting average, home runs and RBI. He was a 16-time All-Star. Mantle played in 12 World Series, including seven championships, and he holds World Series records for the most home runs, RBI, extra-base hits, runs, walks and total bases.
He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 and elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.
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