Fenway
08-15-2005, 07:05 PM
Hard to believe Mickey Mantle left us 10 years ago.
As much as fans hated the Yankees back in the 50's and 60's, nobody hated Mantle.
http://www.themick.com/10homers.html
nobody has ever hit them like he did
(8) 550 feet (6/5/55, Comiskey Park, Chicago – Pitcher: Billy Pierce, Chicago White Sox – Right-handed)
On June 5, 1955, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, the Yankees battled the White Sox. In the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped in against lefty Billy Pierce. Pierce tried to slip a fastball past Mickey and the Mick tore into it, sending a scorching high drive to left. The ball cleared the 360-foot mark, crossed the 160-foot roof and descended to smash a car windshield on 34th Street outside. A parking lot attendant recovered the ball.
Some papers reported that Mickey's drive landed on the roof or hit a light tower but didn't go out of the park. But the Comiskey Park attendants on the roof went to the Yankees locker room after the game to tell Mickey that his homer had cleared the roof and gone completely out of the park.
Only Jimmy Foxx had ever hit a ball that far. However, Mickey's homer is the only one to have eyewitnesses to verify that it actually cleared the stadium.
In 1994 I was in the audience at a Fanfest in Boston and the final part of the program was Mantle and Ted Williams on stage. Bob Costas was the MC and he just sat back and enjoyed hearing these 2 icons swap stories. The ironic part, Ted had just recovered from his first stroke and was frail and we all sensed we may never see him again. Mantle on the other hand looked great. 12 months later he was gone.
from The Boston Globe
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_theme=aggregated4&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=NewsBank&p_text_direct-0=document_id=(%200EADE0EFF9AF3B70%20)&p_nbid=Q66C5FUWMTEyNDE1MDcwMy45ODc0NDc6MToxMjpuY2R tZXRyb3dlc3Q&&p_multi=BGBK
The Mantle of real life was greeted with a standing ovation ("I never thought I'd be up here in Boston and get a standing ovation . . . I thought they were saving that for Ted"), and told a story of how his hitting by instinct was so different from Williams' science of hitting. The former Yankee said he sat and listened to Williams at an All-Star game give advice after advice about hitting "and when we left the All-Star Game I went 1 for 23. Then I figured I better go back to swinging as hard as I can at every pitch they throw at me."
The evening ended on an emotional note when Williams took the stage, greeted Red Sox of his generation and younger, and was given a big hug by Jim Rice ("I still feel the Red Sox have had three left fielders, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Ted Williams"). Williams, in a white suit -- a tieless suit -- said, "I feel fortunate to to be here tonight; I guess I feel fortunate to be anyplace tonight."
Williams praised Mantle ("He must be the most humble star player in the world") and recounted that famous last homer, off Baltimore's Jack Fisher 34 years ago. And when Costas asked Williams if he thought about tipping his cap, something Williams hadn't done over three decades -- The Kid gave a fascinating answer.
"I went around the bases," said Williams, "and I knew it was my last time going around the bases, and I even thought about doing it going around the bases, but I just . . . couldn't . . . do . . . it."
Williams may be a step slower after his stroke, but his personality is not. He thanked New England's fans ("the sports fans of New Engkland have to be the best"), and again took a shot at the Boston media who played such a part in why he . . . just . . . couldn't tip . . . his . . . hat. "They had a press in Boston," said Williams, "that made it next to impossible to think anything good about anybody on the team."
And the night, a wonderful night, ended with Williams speaking from his heart. "Baseball," said The Kid, "what a game . . ."
As much as fans hated the Yankees back in the 50's and 60's, nobody hated Mantle.
http://www.themick.com/10homers.html
nobody has ever hit them like he did
(8) 550 feet (6/5/55, Comiskey Park, Chicago – Pitcher: Billy Pierce, Chicago White Sox – Right-handed)
On June 5, 1955, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, the Yankees battled the White Sox. In the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Mickey stepped in against lefty Billy Pierce. Pierce tried to slip a fastball past Mickey and the Mick tore into it, sending a scorching high drive to left. The ball cleared the 360-foot mark, crossed the 160-foot roof and descended to smash a car windshield on 34th Street outside. A parking lot attendant recovered the ball.
Some papers reported that Mickey's drive landed on the roof or hit a light tower but didn't go out of the park. But the Comiskey Park attendants on the roof went to the Yankees locker room after the game to tell Mickey that his homer had cleared the roof and gone completely out of the park.
Only Jimmy Foxx had ever hit a ball that far. However, Mickey's homer is the only one to have eyewitnesses to verify that it actually cleared the stadium.
In 1994 I was in the audience at a Fanfest in Boston and the final part of the program was Mantle and Ted Williams on stage. Bob Costas was the MC and he just sat back and enjoyed hearing these 2 icons swap stories. The ironic part, Ted had just recovered from his first stroke and was frail and we all sensed we may never see him again. Mantle on the other hand looked great. 12 months later he was gone.
from The Boston Globe
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_theme=aggregated4&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=NewsBank&p_text_direct-0=document_id=(%200EADE0EFF9AF3B70%20)&p_nbid=Q66C5FUWMTEyNDE1MDcwMy45ODc0NDc6MToxMjpuY2R tZXRyb3dlc3Q&&p_multi=BGBK
The Mantle of real life was greeted with a standing ovation ("I never thought I'd be up here in Boston and get a standing ovation . . . I thought they were saving that for Ted"), and told a story of how his hitting by instinct was so different from Williams' science of hitting. The former Yankee said he sat and listened to Williams at an All-Star game give advice after advice about hitting "and when we left the All-Star Game I went 1 for 23. Then I figured I better go back to swinging as hard as I can at every pitch they throw at me."
The evening ended on an emotional note when Williams took the stage, greeted Red Sox of his generation and younger, and was given a big hug by Jim Rice ("I still feel the Red Sox have had three left fielders, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Ted Williams"). Williams, in a white suit -- a tieless suit -- said, "I feel fortunate to to be here tonight; I guess I feel fortunate to be anyplace tonight."
Williams praised Mantle ("He must be the most humble star player in the world") and recounted that famous last homer, off Baltimore's Jack Fisher 34 years ago. And when Costas asked Williams if he thought about tipping his cap, something Williams hadn't done over three decades -- The Kid gave a fascinating answer.
"I went around the bases," said Williams, "and I knew it was my last time going around the bases, and I even thought about doing it going around the bases, but I just . . . couldn't . . . do . . . it."
Williams may be a step slower after his stroke, but his personality is not. He thanked New England's fans ("the sports fans of New Engkland have to be the best"), and again took a shot at the Boston media who played such a part in why he . . . just . . . couldn't tip . . . his . . . hat. "They had a press in Boston," said Williams, "that made it next to impossible to think anything good about anybody on the team."
And the night, a wonderful night, ended with Williams speaking from his heart. "Baseball," said The Kid, "what a game . . ."