Mickey Mantle - Power and Speed
by Phil Donnelly (Albany, NY)
I was fortunate enough to see Mickey Mantle play over 50 times in person and hundreds of times on television. I played baseball with 5 people who made the major leagues and that includes two great players: Ron Santo and Ron Reed. Very simply put, there was never a more gifted player than Mickey. But, it was so much more than that. He was the ultimate in excitement, creating a buzz in the stands never heard by me for any other player. I shudder to think of the records he would set playing in the tiny ballparks that exist today. Of course, I am not including the issue of performance enhancers which have made a joke of the integrity of the game. I shall close with my favorite example of his ability. In July of 1960, we went to see the Yanks play the White sox in a doubleheader at the stadium. Batting left-handed in the first game, Mickey hit a pitch from Russ Kemmerer halfway up the upper deck in right field. In the second game, batting right-handed against Herb Score, he hit a one hop bullet to short that knocked the glove off of Luis Aparicio. It landed right in front of Luis, who picked it up and fired to first, and Mantle beat the throw. This was the greatest display of power and speed I have ever seen.
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