January 16, 1974 (36 Years): Mickey
is elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY in his first year of eligibility.
In addition to Mickey, his close friend Whitey Ford is also elected, along with
Negro League star Cool Papa Bell and umpire Jocko Conlan. The induction ceremony
is scheduled for August 12, 1974.
(Mickey's Hall of Fame plaque is shown in the picture on the right. It reads,
"Mickey Charles Mantle New York
A. L. 1951 - 1968 Hit 536 home runs, won league homer title and
slugging crown four times. Made 2415 hits. Batted .300 or over in each of ten
years with top of .365 in 1957. Topped A. L. in walks five years and in runs
scored six seasons. voted Most Valuable Player 1956-57-62. Named on 20 A. L.
All-Star Teams. Set World Series Records for Homers, 18; Runs, 42; Runs Batted
In, 40; Total Bases, 125; and Bases on Balls, 45.")
March 1, 1969 (41 Years): Mickey
announces his retirement from baseball at a press conference at Yankee
Stadium in New York. Mickey played 18 seasons for the Yankees, from
1951-1968. He played a total of 2,401 games, the most games of any Yankees
player. (Photo on the right.) March 11,
1956 (54 Years): In a spring training game in St.
Petersburg against the St. Louis Cardinals Mickey crushes a
spectacular home run over the left-field bleachers, across a street and into
Tampa Bay.
March 12, 1956 (54
Years): Warming
up for what will be his Triple Crown winning season, Mickey clouts
a second formidable home run against the Cardinals in St.
Petersburg, a one-hopper
into Tampa Bay.
March 20, 1961 (49 Years): In
his first spring under manager Ralph Houk, Mickey crushes a high home run
off Roger Craig against the Dodgers at Dodgertown in Vero
Beach, Florida. Mickey's left-handed drive goes completely out of the park
over the rightfield fence and disappears into the distance.
(The red arrow in the in photo on the right shows the path of Mickey's
homer.)
March 20, 1956 (54
Years): On
a tear for what will be his finest spring training since 1951, Mickey -
facing the Cardinals in St. Petersburg yet again - unleashes
another tremendous tape-measure home run, this one high over the centerfield
barrier at Al Lang Stadium, at least 500 feet long. Cardinals'
centerfielder Bill Virdon (Yankees manager from 1974-75) says it's the
longest homer he ever saw.
March 24, 1956 (54
Years):
Mickey hits yet another historic home run, this
time at Miami Stadium in Miami against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The ball goes over the 35-foot centerfield wall at the 400-foot mark.
It's the first time ever a ball has gone out of Miami Stadium over the centerfield wall. The next day the
homer is reported as a
500-footer by the
Associated Press.
March 26, 1951 (59 Years): Mickey
crushes two monster home runs in an exhibition game played at Bovard Field at
the University of Southern California (USC). The first goes out of the park, across
the street bordering the field, and hits the second-story porch of the third
house down. Mickey's second homer - a moon shot if ever there was one - left the park in
right-centerfield and crossed a football field adjacent to the baseball diamond.
It may the longest home run ever hit, traveling 656 feet!
(The red arrows show the paths of both homers in
the photo on the right.)
April
9,
1965 (45 Years): Mickey hits the first home run
ever in the Houston Astrodome in an exhibition game against the
Houston Astros. Leading off the sixth inning, Mickey crushes a high
drive off Astros' pitcher Turk Farrell that lands in centerfield near
the 406 foot marker. Mickey also got the first hit in the Astrodome,
a single to center to lead off the first inning.
(In the photo on the right Mickey waits for the pitch from Astros' pitcher
Turk Farrell that he slammed into the centerfield seats for the first home
run ever hit at the Astrodome in Houston.) April 10,
1962 (48 Years): Mickey hits his last Opening
Day home run. It goes some 425 feet into the right-centerfield bleachers at
Yankee Stadium as the Yankees nip Baltimore 7-6.
April 12,
1953 (57 Years): Mickey's first son, Mickey
Jr., is born.
April 13,
1955 (55 Years): Mickey homers on Opening Day
for the first time.
April 17,
1951 (59 Years):
Mickey
makes his Yankees debut against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee
Stadium before nearly 45,000 fans. Whitey Ford, on leave from the Army,
throws out the first pitch. Mickey gets his first hit, a single in the sixth
inning that drives in his first run, as the Yankees shut out the
Red Sox 5-0. Mickey goes 1-for-4 with an rbi and a run scored.
April 17,
1953 (57 Years): Mickey, batting right-handed, blasts a monster
565-foot homer out of Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC. Yankees PR director
Red Patterson coins the term "tape measure home run" by
measuring the homer during the game. It may be the most famous home run ever
hit. The Guinness Book of World Records lists it as the longest home run
to be measured at the time it was hit.
(The photo on the right illustrates the path of Mickey's homer. Mickey is shown
batting left-handed but he hit the home run right-handed. The yellow arrow in
the diagram below the photo shows how far it went after it left Griffith Stadium.)
April
17, 1956 (54 Years):
Mickey
belts two tremendous Opening Day homers against the Washington Senators at
Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC. President Eisenhower cheers Mickey from
his seat behind the Senators dugout. Both homers are searing line drives
hit left-handed off Camilo Pascual. Each
goes over 500 feet, clearing the 31-foot wall in centerfield. The first
homer lands atop a house across from the park. The second homer ricochets off
a tree growing in a clump of
trees outside the park. It caroms out and onto adjacent Fifth Street. Only Babe Ruth had ever hit a ball into the
trees outside Griffith Stadium, and he only did it once.
(In the diagram on the right Mickey's two
Opening Day homers are shown in red. The red arrow in the center shows the path
of Mickey's first home run that landed atop a house across Fifth Street. The red
arrow on the left shows the path of his second home run that ricocheted off a
tree behind the centerfield wall and then caromed out onto Fifth Street. For
comparison, the yellow arrow shows the path of his 565-foot homer hit on April
17, 1953, exactly two years earlier.) April 20,
1951 (59 Years): Mickey plays his first major
league game at Yankee Stadium.
March 19, 1960 (50 Years): Mickey's
fourth son, Danny, is born.
May 1, 1951 (59 Years): Mickey
hits his first major league home run at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The ball
travels nearly 500 feet. May
5, 1956 (54 Years): Mickey hits his first
home run to strike the façade at Yankee Stadium to beat the Kansas City
A's
5-2. It's his first homer to nearly go out of Yankee Stadium. A's broadcaster
Merle Harmon says, "If not for the roof, it would have hit the subway
across the street!" (One of
Mickey's façade
home runs hit on May 22, 1963 is diagramed in the photo on the right below. This
home run struck the façade about fifteen
feet to the right of the home run shown in the diagram below.) May
9, 1958 (52 Years): Mickey hits the first
of three inside-the-park home runs in less than a month. This one is against
the Senators at Yankee Stadium.
May
13, 1955 (54 Years): Mickey has the only
three-homer game in his career and first switch-hit homer game – one righty
and two lefty – goes 4-for-4 and drives in all five runs to beat the Detroit
Tigers
in New York. All three homers are hit to the right-centerfield bleachers. Each
is well over 400 feet.
May 16,
1951 (59 Years): Mickey hits his first major
league home run at Yankee Stadium.
 May
20, 1958 (52 Years): Mickey hits the second of
three inside-the-park home runs in less than a month. This one is against the
White Sox at Comiskey Park. May 22,
1962 (51 Years): Mickey hits "the hardest
ball I ever hit" at Yankee Stadium off Bill Fischer of the
Kansas City A's. The ball
hits the façade inches from the top and bounces back to the infield. It wins
the game in the bottom of the tenth inning.
(The diagram in photo on right shows the
location where Mickey's home run off Bill Fischer hit the façade at
Yankee Stadium.) May 30, 1956 (54 Years):
Mickey
crushes a homer off Pedro Ramos that nearly goes out of Yankee Stadium,
hitting the right-field façade. It's his second homer of the month to hit the
façade. (This home run hit the
facade a little to the right of the home run shown the photo on the right above.)
June 5, 1958 (52 Years): Mickey hits
the third of three inside-the-park home runs in less than a month. This one is
against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium. June, 1949 (61 Years): Mickey
signs with the Class "D" Independence Miners of the Yankees organization
on the day he graduates from high school.

June 6, 1955 (55 Years): Mickey
hits the first home run ever to go over the centerfield screen at Briggs
Stadium in Detroit. June 8, 1969 (41 Years): "Mickey
Mantle Day" - the third day honoring Mickey - is held at Yankee Stadium. 70,000 people attend.
(Mickey is overcome with emotion on "Mickey Mantle Day" in
photo on the right.)
June 18, 1956 (54 Years):
Batting left-handed with two on in the eighth
inning and the score tied at 4-4, Mickey crushes a game winning homer that
clears the rightfield roof in Detroit - only Ted Williams had done it before.
Detroit Manager Bucky Harris said, "That would bring tears to the eyes of a
rocking chair."
June 19, 1951 (59 Years): Mickey
homers in both games of a doubleheader for the first time.
June 20, 1956 (44 Years): Mickey
hammers two historic home runs left-handed against Billy Hoeft in Detroit. Both
homers rocket into the upper deck in centerfield - the first into the
right-centerfield seats, the second into the left-centerfield
seats. It's never been done, and Mickey does it twice in one game.
June 21, 1955 (55 Years):
Mickey clobbers the first home run ever into the centerfield "black seats" at Yankee Stadium. It's
measured to have traveled 486 feet.
(Point where Mickey's homer landed indicated by red arrow in photo on right.) July 6, 1953 (57 Years): Mickey
slams his first pinch-hit home run, over 500 feet out of Shibe Park in
Philadelphia.
July 9, 1955 (55 Years): Mickey
has his first five-hit
game with a double and five singles.
July 10, 1956 (54 Years):
Mickey
and Ted Williams hit back-to-back homers in the All-Star Game at
Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Mick's homer is hit
right-handed off Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn.
(In the photo on the right Mickey poses with teammate Yogi Berra - on the left -
and Red Sox legend Ted Williams
- center - at the All-Star Game in Washington.)
July
13, 1951 (59 Years): After striking out four
times in a doubleheader in Boston, Casey Stengel sends Mickey down to the
triple-A Kansas City Blues.
July
23, 1957 (53 Years): Mickey hits for the
"cycle" (hitting a single, double, triple and home run in the same game) for his first and only time. He goes 4-for-5, scoring two runs and
driving in four. His homer flies 465 feet into the rightfield bleachers to
beat the White Sox 10-6 in New York.
(In the photo on the right Mickey slams his home run as part of his "cycle"
against the White Sox on July 23, 1957.) July
26, 1952 (58 Years): Mickey belts his first
career grand slam into the upper deck in left-centerfield at Briggs Stadium
in Detroit.
It's career home run #28.
July 28, 1952 (58 Years):
Just two days after hitting his first career grand slam, Mickey hits his second
career grand slam, this one at Comiskey Park in
Chicago. This one's
career home run #29.
August
4, 1968 (42 Years): "Mickey
Mantle Banner Day" - the second day honoring Mickey - is held at
Yankee Stadium.
August 5, 1954 (56 Years): Mickey smashes the
famous "Joe Collins" home run, one of two home runs Mickey
hit that day, leading the
Yankees to a 5-2 win over the Indians in Cleveland. After Joe
hit a home run into the upper deck, he challenged Mickey to "go chase that
one, big boy." In his next at-bat Mickey clouted a longer home run into the
upper deck. (In the photo on the right
the red arrow on the left shows the approximate path of Joe Collins' home run at
Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The red arrow on the right shows the approximate
path of Mickey's home run.)
August
6, 1954 (56 Years): Mickey
slams his first pinch-hit home run, over 500 feet out of Shibe Park in
Philadelphia. August 7,
1953 (57 Years): Mickey hits his first
inside-the-park home run as the Yankees beat Chicago 6-1 at Yankee Stadium.
August
11, 1954 (56 Years): Mickey
has his first two-homer game in a 7-0 win over the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
August
12, 1964 (46 Years):
Mickey crushes a sky-high fly ball to centerfield. Mickey
thinks he's flied out. But the ball continues to carry until it finally lands 15
rows deep in the centerfield bleachers at Yankee Stadium. Distance: 502
feet. It's only the second home run ever to land in the centerfield "black
seats" at Yankee Stadium. The first: Mickey's home run on June 21, 1955.
August 12, 1974 (36 Years):
Mickey is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame with friend and teammate
Whitey Ford. (In the photo on the
right Mickey poses with fellow Hall of Fame inductees - from left to right -
standing: Mickey and close friend Yankees' pitcher Whitey Ford, seated: Cool
Papa Bell next to umpire Jocko Conlan.) August 13, 1995 (15 Years):
Mickey passes away in Dallas at age 64.
August 10, 2009 (1 Year):
Mickey's wife, Merlyn Mantle, passes away in Dallas at age 77.
August 13, 1996 (14 Years):
"Mickey Mantle Day" - the fourth day honoring Mickey -
is held at Yankee Stadium one year after his death.
August 22,
1951 (59 Years): Casey Stengel keeps his word
and brings Mickey back up to the Yankees from the minor leagues.
September
1, 1963 (47 Years): Mickey
hits the famous "hangover" home run in Baltimore after unexpectedly
being taken off the disabled list a day early and being called upon to pinch-hit.
September 10,
1960 (50 Years): Mickey wallops a tremendous
home run over the rightfield roof at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The ball crosses
Trumbull Avenue and lands in the Brooks Lumber Yard. It was measured years later and found
to have gone 643 feet! The Guinness Book of World Records lists it as the
longest home run ever measured (after the fact) in baseball history.
(In the photo on the right the red arrow shows the path of Mickey's historic
643-foot home run hit into Brooks Lumber Yard across the street from Tiger
Stadium in Detroit.)
September
17, 1952 (58 Years): Mickey,
batting right-handed,
clouts a prodigious opposite-field home run off the upper deck
football press box in right-centerfield, just below the
roof, to beat the
Tigers in Detroit. The ball bounced back onto the field almost to
second base. At the time Mickey called it, "the hardest ball I ever hit."
That, of course, would change as Mickey racked up more tape-measure blasts later
in his career.
September
17, 1958 (52 Years): Mickey
batting left-handed
against
Tigers' pitcher Jim Bunning,
belts a mammoth homer down the rightfield line that goes over the roof and out of
Briggs Stadium (later renamed Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. The ball
crosses adjacent Trumbull Avenue and hits the second story of a building across
from the Stadium. It's
recovered by taxi driver Bob Gilbert.
(In the photo on the right Mickey crushes his mammoth home run that went over
the rightfield roof of Briggs Stadium in Detroit and struck the second
story of a building on the opposite side of Trumbull Ave. In the photo of
Tiger Stadium on
the right above, the shorter upper red arrow shows the path of this home run and
where it struck the
building across the street from the Stadium. It's above Brooks
Lumber Yard in the photo.)
September
18, 1965 (45 Years): "Mickey
Mantle Fan Appreciation Day" - the first day honoring Mickey - is
held at Yankee Stadium with Robert F. Kennedy in attendance. Mickey
plays his 2000th game for the Yankees. Among the gifts
Mickey receives are two quarter horses, and more than $32,000 is raised in
Mickey's name for research in the fight against Hodgkin's Disease.
(In the photo on the right Mickey greets Bobby Kennedy on Mickey Mantle Fan
Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium in New York, September 18, 1958.)
September
23, 1961 (49 Years):
Mickey - in the starting line-up for the first time in six days due to a severe
viral infection - hits a three-run home run into the rightfield bullpen in his
first at-bat. It's home run #54 for his career-best season high. The Mick's
three-run homer
helps pal Whitey Ford win his 25th
game of the season, Whitey's career high for wins in a season.
(In the photo on the right Mickey blasts home run #54 - his career season high -
on September 23, 1961.)
September 28,
1968 (42 Years): Mickey plays his last game –
number 2,401, the most ever for the Yankees – in Boston. Andy Kosco
substitutes for Mickey after his first at bat.
September
30, 1956 (54 Years): Mickey
beats out Ted Williams in the batting title race on the last day of the season
to win baseball's Triple Crown. His numbers: .353 average, 52 home
runs, 130 rbi, leading both leagues in each category. He is only the twelfth player in
history to win the Triple Crown. Mickey hit the most home runs of any
Triple Crown winner, and is the only switch-hitter to win it.
(Casey Stengel crowns Mickey with the Sultan of Swat Award crown at
Yankee Stadium in 1956. Mickey holds three bats with his winning numbers
written on each one.)
September, 1949 (61 years):
Mickey
wins his first championship with the Yankees
Organization as the Independence
Miners capture the K-O-M (Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri) league title.
October 4, 1951 (59 Years):
Mickey plays his first World Series game
against the New York Giants and rookie Willie Mays at
Yankee Stadium in New
York.
October 4, 1953 (57 Years):
Mickey crushes a tremendous first pitch grand
slam into the upper deck in left-centerfield as the Yankees beat the Dodgers
11-7 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. It's only the fourth grand slam in World
Series history. (In the photo on
the right Mickey is greeted by Yogi Berra as he crosses the plate after belting
his grand slam off Russ "Monk" Meyer in Game 5 of the 1953 World Series.)
October 5, 1951 (59 Years):
Mickey gets his first
World Series hit but is
seriously injured when his spikes get caught in a sprinkler head while chasing
down a fly ball hit by Willie Mays in Game 2. His right knee is never the same
afterward. Mickey's knee injury is the first of many career injuries
Mickey suffers. (In the photo on the
right Mickey is examined by a doctor at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York after
injuring his knee.)
October
5, 1953 (57 Years):
The Yankees with their fifth consecutive World
Series championship led by Mickey's best pal and World Series MVP Billy
Martin, batting .500 with 12 hits and 8 rbi. Mickey, while batting only
.208, has five hits, seven rbi, and wins two games with home runs, one of them a
grand slam. It's the only time in history that a team wins five world
championships in a row.
October 8, 1956 (54 Years):
Don Larsen pitches the
only perfect game in World Series
history
as the Yankees beat the Dodgers 2-0
in game five of the 1956 World Series. Mickey hits
a solo home run in the fourth inning for the first Yankees' run (the only
run they'll need as it turns out), then makes a spectacular game-saving catch in
the fifth inning to rob Gil Hodges of an extra-base hit. Hodges drive would have
gone into the upper deck had the game been played at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn,
but Mickey's tremendous speed enabled him to make the catch at Yankee Stadium. October 10, 1951 (59 Years): Mickey wins his first
World Series championship
as the Yankees beat the Giants in six games. He watches it from his hospital
bed at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York, where he is recovering from his
knee injury in the World Series five
days before.
October 10, 1964
(46 Years):
Mickey
crushes the first pitch from Cardinals' relief pitcher Barney Schultz into
the third deck at Yankee Stadium for career World Series homer number 16,
breaking Babe Ruth's record. It's The Mick's "called shot" - he predicted
the homer to Elston Howard in the on-deck circle while Schultz warmed
up. Mickey's walk-off home run wins the game for the Yankees in the
bottom of the ninth inning. (Mickey's
swing for his walk-off home run in Game 3 of the 1964 World Series - his
record-breaking World Series home run #16 - hit off knuckleball pitcher Barney
Schultz, is shown in the photo on the right.)
October 14, 1964 (46 Years): Mickey
adds to his World Series home run record by smashing number 17 to beat
the Cardinals 8-3 in Game 6 in St. Louis.
October 15, 1964 (46 Years): Mickey
belts his 18th and final World Series home run to set the all-time
World
Series home run record. It is Mickey's last World Series game.
October 16, 1962 (48 Years):
Mickey wins his seventh and final World Series
championship on Willie McCovey's dramatic line drive out with two on and two out
in the ninth inning of game seven. (In
the photo on the right Yankees' second baseman Bobby Richardson spears Willie
McCovey's line drive with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning
in Game 7 of the 1962 World Series. It ended the game and the Yankees held on to
win 1-0. They won the Series 4 games to 3.) October 20, 1931 (79 Years):
Mickey
is born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, a small town near Commerce in northwestern
Oklahoma.
December 5, 1957 (53 Years): Mickey's
third son, Billy, - named after Billy Martin - is born.
December 23, 1951 (59 Years): Mickey
marries his high school sweetheart, Merlyn Johnson.
(Mickey and Merlyn are shown in the photo on the right.) December 25, 1989 (21 Years): Mickey's
best friend and teammate, Billy Martin, dies in a motor vehicle accident.
December 26, 1955 (55 Years): Mickey's
second son, David, is born.
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