Opening Day: Baseball, Booze, and Redemption - Mickey Mantle Style
I heard the Ground Round is making a comeback. That is where I was for my 9th birthday, tossing peanuts all over the floor. And it was there that I received a birthday card from my Mom and Dad, which contained a 1962 Topps Mickey Mantle card. The 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie card, in perfect condition, has an auction value of approximately $60 million. The card is a tough one to find, because there were few of them available even back then. Plus, any of our parents or grandparents who had one likely put it in the spokes of a bike wheel. I thought the 1962 card was special because it was the first card to show his 54 home runs in his famous battle with teammate Roger Maris for the single-season record. Maris beat him with 61.
Once in a while, I ask people if they know Mickey Mantle’s nickname. Some get it. Most don’t. They called him “The Mick” in the days of the black and white TV. But these days, he’s simply Mickey Mantle. Imagine being so great at something that nearly a hundred years later, people continue to write and talk about you all the time, even thirty years after you're gone. When I was little, Mantle was still alive. He’d occasionally appear on WPIX with Phil Rizzuto and other sports shows, tossing out a first pitch. In 1985, he appeared on David Letterman. Letterman's conversation with Mickey serves as the launching pad for this post.
After more than 150 years of people playing baseball in the United States, Mickey Mantle is renowned as one of the, if not the best, major league hitters ever to play the game. He hit the ball out of the yard, and at times out of the stadium more than 500 times. He did this from both sides of the plate – consistently without steroids, and even more remarkably while he was either drunk or hungover, by his own admission. And if you haven’t already, take the nine minutes to watch the interview with Letterman. I don’t remember anyone bringing it up when I was a kid, but everybody knew from what I’ve read and the interviews I’ve watched. Mickey Mantle was among the highest functioning alcoholics of the last century.
Most veteran Yankee fans know that Casey Stengel (manager) had a special affection for Mickey. In his interview, Mantle lets us in on how Casey showed him mercy after being late to a game in Pittsburgh, where he was likely hungover. Billy Martin had to stay in the game. Then there is a point in the interview where, in 2025, we have to cringe. That was when the slugger talked about the time he pointed a revolver at his wife, Merlyn, and pulled the trigger. I don’t know how, when, or why a person would decide to do such a thing – but not only did he do it, he also thought it’d make an excellent story for live television. Fortunately, Letterman was still funny and quick-witted back then, before he became a political commentator. He made it a joke and let Mickey off the hook.
Mickey Mantle (Left) and Billy Martin (Right)
As a child, the stories and lore of Mickey Mantle hitting pitches out of parks drew me to his baseball cards. As a young adult, the true-to-life stories of his escapades off the field, like rumors of time he spent with Marilyn Monroe or a bar fight at the Copacabana, gave him, in some respects, an even cooler image. That’s why the crowd laughed when he was telling his stories about shooting a mule, taking a cab from Cinci to Pittsburgh, or who was a bad influence on who when he was with Billy Martin and Whitey Ford. Then, like so many, the drinking caught up with him, and the story of Mickey Mantle changed.
Here is Mickey telling the mule story - which Billy Martin verified on a different episode with Letterman
Look, the guy burned through a liver and was able to get a used one that was in excellent condition. There’s a lot of talk about whether or not he was given preferential treatment on the liver transplant list. We learned through his illness that there are more people out there looking for livers than there are livers to be had. Someone else’s death gave Mickey Mantle the gift of extended life – and with that, he came out with it. He admitted that he roasted his first liver drinking, and even said to the kids, “Don’t be like me.” But he wasn’t talking to the kids, was he?
Kids in the 1990s weren’t as interested in Mickey Mantle as they were in Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr. Mickey was talking to the adults. The guy whose name is synonymous with Babe Ruth’s told everyone he’d blown it. He said he was given so much, and it was wasted. That’s odd to hear from the best of the best – I thought back then. But now I see it so clearly. Because I’ve had to face some of my own blind spots – some I created, some I inherited, and some I’m just starting to name.
Casey Stengel with Mickey Mantle
No matter what Mickey Mantle did, it was great – because he hit a lot of home runs. I wonder how many times he got the benefit of a blind eye because he was the King of the City that Never Sleeps. Casey Stengel and David Letterman cut him slack, as did Yankee ownership, the fans, and likely all of the five boroughs. I’m willing to bet that his habits were fueled by his frequent visits to places where everyone, and I mean everyone, wanted to buy him a drink. His drinking cost him his liver, and eventually, his life.
Some people call it a jackpot when drinking too much changes life forever. The Hall of Famer’s life changed when his liver ran out of steam. And then, like all things Mickey Mantle, straw was spun to gold. His struggle with alcohol was the new story, and his finding a fresh liver made national news. It was a miracle of sorts. Because after Mickey Mantle needed and received a liver transplant, the number of donors increased from a few to oh so many – it is said that he tripled the number of organ donors in the final phase of his life.
Most certainly, this was his last home run. Thanks Mick.