Agree that the confluence of events regarding world championships, New York, early-mid 50s, rise of baseball card collecting, all of that. But what i see personally, is the aura around the man. My dad grew up in that time through a large portion of the Midwest and even in towns that should be all about Musial, Banks and Aaron, he says there was still talk about Mickey.
My dad (and I assume most boys from that generation) can run for hours with Mantle stories. The time his rookie year he pulled up from a fly ball because he would have run over DiMaggio in the outfield. That gave him a knee injury that slowed him the rest of his career. The jersey number thing, Ruth was three, Gherig was 4, DiMaggio was 5, Mantle knew he was next but chose 7. The stories of towering home runs. Plus, I think the struggles with partying, alcohol, etc. only made him more human to his fans.
|