So, why a post on The Mick? Besides it containing video of his last homerun from the last inning of the last game he ever played in Minnesota, and against the Twins?
Hasn't he been mythologized and biographied above and beyond George Washington? I guess the short answer is that I inherited (or made off with) a trove of pre- and post-1960s Topps cards from my oldest bother, Jim. So, I was drinking the Mick koolaid at a very early stage! Those Mantle cards I had were, and still are, museum-worthy. I'd sit there hushed, mesmerized looking at that 1960 Topps Mantle. Mine was really quite a lovely, pathetic, wondrous, and woefully misspent youth.
Those trinkets - paired with Jimmy's backlog of Sport magazines - effectively perpetuated The Commerce Comet's mythology, or merely genuflected in his general direction. That was the kind of hold he had on the sporting public. And on little, star-struck boys from corn towns in Minnesota, and everywhere. ..
Then too was Mantle and the Yankees's place of importance in early Twins history. First of all, the Twins won their first ever game versus New York in April, 1961. Besides, Mickey and Roger Maris and Whitey Ford and company of New York, NY were the biggest drawing cards in the American League in the '60s. Team owner Calvin Griffith invented split-doubleheaders because of that fact, knowing he could get Norwegian farmers and their families by the busload to commute all the way from the western prairie to to pay for two to see the city slickers from Gotham. And thus create lodgers for local hotels like the Thunderbird.
Having cameos in the video are Yankees stars from the past (former Indian Rocky Colavito
(hand on railing, waving at camera), announcer and former shortstop Phil Rizzuto signing near the TBird pool, coach and former infielder Frank Crosetti), and the Yankees future (Roy White).
Others obvious: Tom Tresh (#15), Joe Verbanic (#52) and Fritz Peterson (#19), Steve Hamilton (#39), Gene Michael (#16),and catcher Jake Gibbs (#41),
signing autographs on the field before the game.
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| "You walked into the party room / like you were walking on to a yacht" |
Hasn't he been mythologized and biographied above and beyond George Washington? I guess the short answer is that I inherited (or made off with) a trove of pre- and post-1960s Topps cards from my oldest bother, Jim. So, I was drinking the Mick koolaid at a very early stage! Those Mantle cards I had were, and still are, museum-worthy. I'd sit there hushed, mesmerized looking at that 1960 Topps Mantle. Mine was really quite a lovely, pathetic, wondrous, and woefully misspent youth.
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| Jim Merritt 1968 Topps |
Those trinkets - paired with Jimmy's backlog of Sport magazines - effectively perpetuated The Commerce Comet's mythology, or merely genuflected in his general direction. That was the kind of hold he had on the sporting public. And on little, star-struck boys from corn towns in Minnesota, and everywhere. ..
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| Worshipers watch Mantle come to bat at Minnesota's Church of Baseball, aka: Metropolitan Stadium, ca. mid-1960s |
Then too was Mantle and the Yankees's place of importance in early Twins history. First of all, the Twins won their first ever game versus New York in April, 1961. Besides, Mickey and Roger Maris and Whitey Ford and company of New York, NY were the biggest drawing cards in the American League in the '60s. Team owner Calvin Griffith invented split-doubleheaders because of that fact, knowing he could get Norwegian farmers and their families by the busload to commute all the way from the western prairie to to pay for two to see the city slickers from Gotham. And thus create lodgers for local hotels like the Thunderbird.
Having cameos in the video are Yankees stars from the past (former Indian Rocky Colavito
(hand on railing, waving at camera), announcer and former shortstop Phil Rizzuto signing near the TBird pool, coach and former infielder Frank Crosetti), and the Yankees future (Roy White).
Others obvious: Tom Tresh (#15), Joe Verbanic (#52) and Fritz Peterson (#19), Steve Hamilton (#39), Gene Michael (#16),and catcher Jake Gibbs (#41),
signing autographs on the field before the game.
 |
| 1968 Topps Mantle card |
Back to our centerpiece: the above is a silent home video from the day AND the game of August 22, 1968, when Mickey Mantle was responsible for the only Yankee run in Twins lefthander Jim Merritt's 2-hitter. Not a slick, ESPN-produced feature, but the home movie 8 mm aspect is what I find so redeeming, maybe EVEN MORE compelling, as it was posted on You Tube by a private person, Lou Good of Ferguson, IA, who, indeed, did good in capturing a noteworthy moment in Twins baseball history. The Comet was, arguably, the most beloved legend outside of Babe Ruth. But the legend was nearly spent.
The handsome man you see here walking through the Thunderbird Hotel (a Killebrew's homerun shot's distance from Metropolitan Stadium - see Jim's APBA Barn insights!) parking lot in Bloomington, Minnesota was a mere shell of himself, not the amazing specimen and uncomplicated kid from Oklahoma that was born to play baseball. Indeed, he had been The One who took the torch from Joe Joe DiMaggio, and who had inspired countless American kids in the 1950s and early 60s with much of the physicality and Rockwellian populist charm that our generation now sees echoed in the superb Mike Trout.
No, this was the man in vapors, who had been degraded by injuries (themselves inspiring mythical tales of the man, causing bitter complaining by some contemporaries like Roberto Clemente "they made a God out of Mickey Mantle because he was hurt so much," while he himself was criticized for missing playing time with injuries).
As mentioned, it was the last homer Mantle would hit at Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota, and he would connect for only two more of his final total of 536. His shot off Merritt, with him off-balance and connecting while out on his front foot, tied him with the great Jimmie Foxx third on the all-time homerun list (see year-by-year list at Wikipedia). He had come into the game with a .227/.392/.399 slash line, with 15 homers, 90 walks, and 79 strikeouts in 331 at bats. But he couldn't field with any range, was only playing first, and really was feeling the pangs of his diminished abilities and his team's descent in the standings since the last pennant year of 1964.
The 24 year-old Merritt had pitched one of the top games of his career, after having started the afternoon with a 7-12 record and riding a personal two-game losing streak. His last win had come, coincidentally against these same Yankees, and was arguably a better game for him: it was a 3-2 complete game win, with 11 strikeouts, four hits, one walk at The Stadium, with a game score of 81. Though allowing homers, that was also a sterling performance.
The handsome man you see here walking through the Thunderbird Hotel (a Killebrew's homerun shot's distance from Metropolitan Stadium - see Jim's APBA Barn insights!) parking lot in Bloomington, Minnesota was a mere shell of himself, not the amazing specimen and uncomplicated kid from Oklahoma that was born to play baseball. Indeed, he had been The One who took the torch from Joe Joe DiMaggio, and who had inspired countless American kids in the 1950s and early 60s with much of the physicality and Rockwellian populist charm that our generation now sees echoed in the superb Mike Trout.
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| Mickey with Sen. Robert Kennedy, 1965 |
No, this was the man in vapors, who had been degraded by injuries (themselves inspiring mythical tales of the man, causing bitter complaining by some contemporaries like Roberto Clemente "they made a God out of Mickey Mantle because he was hurt so much," while he himself was criticized for missing playing time with injuries).
Twins and Yankee fans in attendance that day at Metropolitan Stadium would have been hard-pressed to realize that the world and Major League Baseball were in dynamic flux. I won't wax endlessly, but it was the fateful year of the Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy assassinations...The Tet Offensive in Vietnam...Richard Nixon's narrow defeat of Hubert Humphrey for the Presidency...the end of bubblegum pop music ("Red Rubber Ball") and the birth of heavy metal ("Dazed And Confused")...and, in a way, the birth of seriousness. Now, for the first time, the heaviness of world affairs, the burning of Watts, the riots, et. al,, would be very obvious, ominous events even to me, a preschooler in south-central Minnesota. I was reading voraciously by then, probably things my parents and siblings didn't wish for me to absorb. The whole, chaotic stew was in all the news shows and papers, anyway, and in the Time and Look magazines that showed up in my Dad's mailbox.
To wit: I remember watching the CBS morning news in complete puzzlement and then horror as the details of New York Senator Bobby Kennedy's murder were described on the morning after, on June 6, 1968. It was just before my leaving the house after my morning corn flakes to attend kindergarten, just down the street from our home.
In the middle of all that, then, was the final season of the old, ten-team, one league champion format, before Divisional play began in Major League Baseball. Old stadiums and older players of the '50s were slowly being phased out for the new, as evidenced in this '68 All-Star game at bat against Tom Seaver at the Houston Astrodome. It was the last all-star appearance for Mickey Mantle, though, no one could have guessed it at the time...
CHECK OUT SCROLLABLE PDF below "The Winona [MN} Daily News -
I'm theorizing that Mickey was sitting on a curve, got out ahead of his front
foot, and hit it one-handed, but hard enough to go ten rows into the stands.
Use magnifier and the "+" tool to increase size
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| The six year-old section of my brain is screaming "how DARE they make the great Mantle actually walk to the bus in the Thunderbird parking lot!! Great kings ought be carried on pedestals, a la, Egyptian Pharaohs. |
The 24 year-old Merritt had pitched one of the top games of his career, after having started the afternoon with a 7-12 record and riding a personal two-game losing streak. His last win had come, coincidentally against these same Yankees, and was arguably a better game for him: it was a 3-2 complete game win, with 11 strikeouts, four hits, one walk at The Stadium, with a game score of 81. Though allowing homers, that was also a sterling performance.
Complete List of Home Runs - Mickey Mantle Vs. The Minnesota Twins - Grandslams in RED
| CR# | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | BOP | Twins Pitcher/Inning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 328 | 1961-05-02 | NYY | @MIN | W 6-4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | CPascual / 10th inn |
| 329 | 1961-05-04 | NYY | @MIN | W 5-2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | TSadowski / 6th inn |
| 335 | 1961-06-05 (1) | NYY | MIN | W 6-2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | RMoore / 8th inn |
| 361/362 | 1961-08-06 (1) | NYY | MIN | W 7-6 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | PRamos / 1st & 3rd inns |
| 363 | 1961-08-06 (2) | NYY | MIN | W 3-2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ASchroll / 2nd inn |
| 367 | 1961-08-30 | NYY | @MIN | W 4-0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | JKaat / 7th inn |
| 368 | 1961-08-31 | NYY | @MIN | L 4-5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | JKralick / 4th inn |
| 384 | 1962-06-28 | NYY | MIN | W 4-2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | JKralick / 4th inn |
| 390/391 | 1962-07-06 | NYY | W 7-5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | CPascual / 1st & 3rd inns | |
| 407 | 1963-05-04 | NYY | @MIN | W 3-2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | JKaat / 4th inn |
| 410 | 1963-05-15 | NYY | MIN | W 4-3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | CPascual / 6th inn |
| 436 | 1964-07-04 (1) | NYY | MIN | W 7-5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | AWorthington / 8th inn |
| 440 | 1964-08-01 | NYY | @MIN | W 6-4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | DStigman / 6th inn |
| 457 | 1965-04-21 | NYY | MIN | L 2-7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | CPascual / 1st inn |
| 464 | 1965-06-18 | NYY | MIN | W 10-2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | MNelson / 1st inn |
| 470 | 1965-08-10 | NYY | MIN | L 3-7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | JKaat / 8th inn |
| 474 | 1966-05-09 | NYY | @MIN | W 3-2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | JPerry / 4th inn |
| 499 | 1967-05-03 | NYY | @MIN | L 3-4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | DBoswell / 1st inn |
| 511/512 | 1967-07-04 (1) | NYY | @MIN | L 3-8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | JGrant / 3rd & 8th inns |
| 515 | 1967-07-25 | NYY | MIN | T 1-1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | JKaat / 9th inn |
| 528 | 1968-06-22 | NYY | @MIN | W 5-2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | JKaat / 1st inn |
| 530/531 | 1968-08-10 | NYY | MIN | L 2-3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | JMerritt /4th & 9th inns |
| 534 | 1968-08-22 | NYY | MIN | L 1-3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | JMerritt / 9th inn |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/21/2016.
The truth: the 3-1 win didn't propel the Twins to the pennant in 1968, as the pre-All Star Game victory did in 1965 did, when Harmon hit his walk off to beat New York. No, they still finished at 79-83, in 7th place in the American League. The Yankees finished at 83-79 however, and they went 24-17 the rest of the way, a .585 pace. The last games for Mickey Mantle actually produced some respectable stats (see totals) and amazing moments, but was in no way close to resembling the spectacular peaks of his career. The Twins, meanwhile, were also able to fashion a winning routine for the remainder of '68. They went 20-17, setting the stage for their new manager Billy Martin to guide them to a sparkling 1969 season, partly on the strength of a recuperated Harmon Killebrew. He would train for a comeback after his near-disasterous injury in the 1968 All-Star game (see video). From the ashes would emerge a phoenix.
But never again for Mickey.
"So Long Everybody!" - Herb Carneal
Generated 8/21/2016.
But never again for Mickey.
"So Long Everybody!" - Herb Carneal
1 comment:
I was at that game. I was 10. I remember how effortless that home run seemed to be, and I remember the announcer saying that Mickey had tied Jimmy Foxx's home run record, although I didn't then (and barely now) knew who Jimmy Foxx was. We were from a tiny town in South Dakota, and moved that year to Minneapolis. The kid next door in South Dakota was a Yankees fan, so therefore so was I. That kid went on to be a very successful investment banker, and was in the Twin Tower complex on 9/11. He survived. Seems like that home run was well received by at least part of the crowd, so there must have been other Yankees fans there too. I saw Danny Kaye at that stadium once. It was probably a different game. I think he was part owner of a west coast team (Seattle?).
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