Mickey Mantle: Baseball Legend
Mickey Mantle (1931-1995) is an American former professional baseball player who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees, in a stellar career spanning 1951 until 1968.
Greatest Sporting Achievements
Mantle hit 536 career home runs, batted .300 or more ten times. He is the only player in history to hit 150 home runs from both sides of the plate. His greatest year was undoubtedly in 1956, in which he won the Triple Crown, leading the batting average (.353), home runs (52), and runs batted in (RBI). Mantle was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.
Mickey Mantle in 1953Why Was He So Good?
Mickey Mantle is regarded by many as the greatest switch hitter in baseball history, meaning he could bat both right-handed and left-handed, enabling him to adapt to the left or right-handed pitchers to maximize his scoring possibilities. He also had exceptional power, hitting some of the longest home runs in Major League history. He wasn't just a slugger, at the time of his retirement Mantle also had the highest stolen-base percentage.
What You May Not Know
- Mantle was named in honor of Mickey Cochrane, a Hall of Fame catcher (whose actual first name was Gordon)
- At high school, he also played basketball and football.
- When he retired at age 37, was the Yankees' all-time leader in games played with 2,401.
- In the early 1970s he opened a chain of Mickey Mantle's Country Cookin' restaurants.
- Mantle was the uncle of actor and musician Kelly Mantle
- A near mint condition 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card sold for 12.6 million USD in 2022.
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Related Pages
- More legend baseball players
- Mickey Mantle card
- Who is the greatest baseball player of all time?
- Athlete Database home
- About the sport of baseball
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