1960 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STAR
"I GUESSED WRONG" - MANTLE
Yankee Star Says He Often Wasn't Ready For Fast Ball
"In Dallas Mickey Mantle spends the off-season at a leisurely pace. He doesn't do road work, chase himself around a handball court or ride Mickey Jr.'s bicycle around the neighborhood.
'I play golf when it isn't raining and take a run over to the bowling alley,' the Yankee center fielder said recently. 'Then I just kind of sit around and enjoy my family.'
This tranquil routine, the stamp of a successful suburbanite, also leaves Mantle with plenty of time for looking back over his shoulder.
'I get thinking about last season now and then,' he said. 'Ruins my whole day.'
According to Mickey, there is 'nothing to write home about' in a batting average of .285 and 126 strikeouts.
'One good thing about last season,' he said. 'At least I know what was wrong. I was nothing physical. It was all in my mind. I was my own worst enemy.
'I got myself fouled up right at the beginning of the season. I got off to a bad start, then got in a rut at the plate by pressing and guessing. But I wasn't hurting anywhere like some of you fellows were writing. That wasn't so. I can't remember a year I felt so good.'
'Well, then,' the outfielder was asked, 'just what was wrong? You were under .300 for the first time in five years and you struck out more times than you ever did before.'
'Trying to guess what the next pitch will be can kill you' he said. 'I've got to be more like Williams and Musial. They are great hitters and have been over the years because they don't guess.
'Oh, they guess a little,' the outfielder added. 'But they always guess the next pitch will be a fast ball, and if a hitter is always set for a fast ball he's not going to get fooled much.
'Trouble with me was, I didn't guess like Williams and Musial. The way I guessed last year ruined me. That's the big reason I had all those strikeouts. I'd say to myself, 'If this isn't a curve ball I'm not going to swing at it.' Lots of times it would be a fast ball and I wasn't ready. You can look awful bad when you guess wrong on a third strike. Nobody knows that any better than I do.'
The way Mantle puts it, the more a hitter guesses, the harder it is for him to kick the habit.
'A lot of things happen. First thing you know you get swinging too hard. Now you're not only guessing, you've also thrown your timing off. Back in 1956 I never swung hard and I did fine (52 home runs and the Triple Crown). Back then I can remember some of the longest home runs I hit came when I was swinging for just a base hit, but I guess my timing was just right. The ball would jump off the bat and land in the seats.'
This will be an important year for Mantle. At 28 years of age, he is ready to embark on his tenth season as a major leaguer.
'I don't like to make predictions,' he said. 'The easiest thing in the world for a ball player to do is sit back in the winter and pop off about next season.
'I've got to come back with a good year,' he added. 'Like I said before, at least I know why I was bad last season.' "
-Til Ferdenzi, New York Journal-American (Baseball Digest, March 1960)
"The man with the muscles is outfielder Mickey Mantle, one of the best all-around performers in the game. Despite a .285 average in '59, he has kept his lifetime figure on the right side of the .300 level. Mickey hit 31 homers in '59 and also stole 21 bases, second only to Chicago's Luis Aparicio
He was the league's Most Valuable Player in 1956 and '57 and won the Triple Crown in '56, leading the league in hitting, home runs and runs batted in. He's topped the circuit three times in home runs, getting a high of 52 in '56. Mantle is the game's most powerful switch-hitter of all time.
Now 28, Mickey was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma."
-Don Schiffer, 1960 Mutual Baseball Annual
1959
April 29: Hits two-run homer and single in win against White Sox.
April 30: Hit on finger in batting practice, chips bone in right index finger; out awhile.
May 10: Hits home run and single and scores in 10th to beat Senators, 3-2, on day after return to lineup.
May 24: Hits three-run homer and RBI single in rout of Orioles.
June 3: Beats Tigers, 6-5, with home run in 9th.
June 6: Beats Indians, 2-1, with single in 8th.
June 13: Hits two-run homer in 6-4 win over Tigers.
June 17: Hits 450-foot home run as Yanks top White Sox.
June 18: Beats White Sox, 5-4, with home run in 10th.
June 22: Six RBIs on two home runs and triple in 11-6 win over A's.
June 27: Named to American All-Stars as outfield spare.
June 29: Hurt ankle in exhibition with Dodgers.
July 16: Beats Indians, 7-5, with two-run homer in 10th.
July 19: Leads sweep of White Sox with home run, two doubles and single.
August 5: Hits two-run homer in 3-0 win over Tigers.
August 8: Two RBIs with home run and sacrifice fly as Yanks beat A's, 3-0.
August 16: Hits home run each game in split with Red Sox.
September 10: Gets five hits in 12-1 rout of A's.
September 13: Beats Indians, 2-1, with homer in 11th.
September 15: Hits switch home runs in 4-3 loss to White Sox.
Comment: "Not a good year by his standards. He figures to snap back."
-Joe Sheehan, Dell Sports Magazine Baseball, April 1960
"This is Mickey Mantle's 10th season as a Yankee, though he's only 28. One of the game's most exciting performers, Mickey is anxious to prove his great seasons of 1956 and 1957 were nearer his average than the last two years. Frequently hampered by injuries, yet always willing to play, Mantle hopes to increase his output in 1960. He compiled his lowest full-season big league average last year, .285. 'I want to get more hits and cut down on strikeouts,' said Mickey when he reported to spring training in March. 'The homers will come if I just meet the ball well.'
In 1956 and '57 Mick was MVP of the American League. He was named Player of the Year in the majors by the Sporting News in '56. He topped the loop in homers in 1955, 1956 and 1958. And he won the coveted Triple Crown (homers, batting average and runs batted in) in 1956, the year he also won the Hickok Belt Award as the outstanding pro athlete of the year.
Improvement in the Yankees' fortunes depends to a large extent on an improved Mickey Mantle in 1960. If effort will accomplish it, Mickey should be back in top form."
-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook
Mickey Charles Mantle (OF) #7
Born October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw, OK, resides in Dallas, Texas. Height: 6-0, weight: 202. Bats left and right, throws right. Married and father of four boys, Mickey Elvin (7), David Harold (3), Billy (2) and Daniel Merle (2 months).
-The New York Yankees Official 1960 Yearbook
"The boy to whom the job of filling the shoes of the great Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio, fell has done a pretty good job of it as his .311 average over nine seasons bears out. Mickey Mantle was probably the most heralded ball player in Yankee history when he reported to training camp back in 1951.
As a shortstop in Class C ball in Joplin, Mantle had batted .383, collected 199 hits and scored 141 times to lead the Western Association in those departments. His hits included 30 doubles, 12 triples and 26 homers and he was slated for a boost to Binghamton in the Class A Eastern League.
His fielding, 55 errors, made it clear he'd never be a shortstop. So the Yanks converted him to the outfield.
In exhibition games that spring he had the crowds and veteran sportswriters and players alike in awe as he poled home runs, one longer than the last, and hit big league hurling with authority.
The switch-hitting youngster from Spavinaw, Oklahoma, opened the season with the Bombers, and after a mid-summer stretch with Kansas City of the American Association, he was back in New York. Mickey batted .267 with 13 homers in his rookie year. He twisted his knee in the second game of the World Series against the Giants and was out for the balance of the fall classic.
With DiMaggio retired, Mantle took over the center field job in 1952. He batted .311 and poked out 23 four-baggers and climaxed his first full season with a .345 World Series against the Dodgers. In the Series his 10 hits included a brace of homers.
In the 1953 World Series, Mickey slugged a grand slam homer off veteran Dodger Russ Meyer. He took the American League home run crown in 1955 with 37 and tied for the lead in triples with 11. He was the leading slugger in the majors that season, an honor he would repeat n '56.
Mickey had his greatest year in 1956, winning the Triple Crown with a .353 average, driving 52 homers and sending 130 runs across the plate. He also led in runs scored with 132 and was recipient of the Hickok Belt as Top Professional Athlete of the Year.
In 1957 Mickey batted .365 and had 34 homers to repeat as MVP, and in '58 his 42 circuit clouts were a league high.
Last season Mickey had a 'bad year.' Bad, that is, for Mickey. He still managed to hit 31 homers and had a .285 batting mark, but this called for the first salary cut of his career and Mickey was the last Yankee to sign this spring.
His 11 post-season homers place him behind only the immortal Babe Ruth. In All-Star competition (seven games), Mick has a .308 batting mark with two home runs.
Mickey's late father and grandfather taught him to be a switch-hitter and he has been the best in big league history. His power is deadly from either side of the plate and he is one of the game's top bunters, getting many hits on two-strike bunt safeties. And, he is one of the best base runners and stealers around.
Mantle is married and has four sons. He makes his home in Dallas, Texas, where he owns a bowling establishment. In addition, Mickey has a motel in Joplin, Missouri.
A solid 198-pounder, Mickey is six feet tall. He might have had a great career on the gridiron had it not been for a siege of osteomyelitis which has recurred from time to time.
If Mickey can have the kind of year he's shown himself to be capable of, the Yankees' job of re-capturing the flag they lost last summer will be a lot easier."
-New York Yankees 1960 Yearbook (Jay Publishing Co.)
MANTLE'S SECRET AMBITION: TO BE STOLEN BASE KING
Don't Laugh - Mickey Was Runner-Up Last Year
"Mickey Mantle the American League's leading base burglar? Sounds a little ridiculous, doesn't it? But that's what the man said.
Mickey, who never stole more than 22 bases in his career, let it be known recently that he's out to catch baseball's No. 1 thief, little Luis Aparicio. And he isn't kidding.
He's got a lot of catching up to do if Luis has as much larceny in his heart as he did last season when he swiped 56. Mickey had 21.
But this will surprise you. Did you know that Mickey's 21 was good enough to make him the runner-up to Aparicio for the title?
Hardly anyone thinks of Mantle in terms of a threat to the White Sox speed demon, and yet when you look over their records, Mickey's winning the title seems a lot more plausible than you might think at first.
Until last year Aparicio was nowhere near the public enemy he became to all catchers. Even though he led the league all three of his previous seasons, he was in about the same class as, say, Mickey Mantle.
Sound confusing? Let's look at the records.
In his freshman year Aparicio topped the league with 21. That year Mantle stole ten. As a sophomore, Luis led again, this time with 28. Mantle had 16 the same year. In his third season, the mercury-footed Latin retained his title with 29. Mickey, continuing to move up, had 18.
Nowhere in the record books does it state that all those years Luis was winning and Mantle wasn't far behind. Mickey was often running on one leg. He always had something wrong with him.
Nor are there records that show how the Yankees felt about Mantle. He was paid to hit home runs and was too valuable to risk having him break a leg sliding while he tried to steal a base.
The situation with Aparicio is different. He gets paid to steal. His speed, as a fielder and a base runner, is his greatest asset. He's given a green light to go-go-go every time he reaches first base and there's nobody on the sack ahead of him. Mantle was always advised against taking chances.
But last year things changed slightly. With Casey's O.K., Mickey announced in Florida he would try to steal more often. He did, too, just as he has each of the last four years. This year he really intended to open up.
It all depends, of course, on how his legs hold up. Mickey wasn't in camp a week when he had his first trouble, a strained right knee. It has handicapped him ever since. How much it will bother him all year remains to be seen.
The Yankees, of course, wouldn't care if Mickey never stole a base. They'd much rather have him lead in the other departments which he has set as his goal.
'This year,' he says, 'I'm gonna lead the league in homers, runs batted in, runs scored and stolen bases. Don't ask me why, I just feel it.'
Surprisingly, he's not shooting for the batting title. That's probably because he figures fellows like Harvey Kuenn and Al Kaline will hit for higher averages."
-Jack Lang, Long Island Press (Baseball Digest, July 1960)
"Though he hit for a disappointing average this season, Mickey Mantle got many a 'big' hit during the pennant-winning season. His home run and RBI production moved up in 1960 as Mickey had his third best homer season. His home runs won, tied or were instrumental in winning nearly 30 games this summer. He led both leagues in scoring most of the year. And he played a strong centerfield.
Three times Mickey has been the American League MVP. He's hit 11 World Series homers, to tie Duke Snider for runner-up spot behind Babe Ruth's 15."
-1960 World Series Official Souvenir Program
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