Quote:
Originally Posted by brian1961
..........It's such a touching photo, and to me says a lot about Mickey the man, and hero.
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Brian,
One of my personal pet peeves is when someone talks about what a great man Mantle was. A great ballplayer - yes, but a great man - never.
Mantle was great when the cameras were rolling, but not so much otherwise.
I copied the two paragraphs below from one of my posts a few months back, and I think it needs repeating.
Mantle was a boozing, womanizing a$$hole, who wouldn't have survived a minute with today's scrutinizing media. (IMHO.)
A long ago co-worked once told me a story about when he was a kid. He said that he was collecting ballplayer autographs in some Washington hotel. (I assume that the Yankees were playing the Senators.) He said that when he approached Mantle with a ball to sign, Mantle literally slapped the ball out of his hand as he rushed past.
There are tons of similar stories out there about the "great" Mantle.