1933 Goudey Ruth vs 1952 Topps Mantle

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by Vintageclout

Bill,

I agree with virtually all of your Mantle related comments except one. Injuries are NOT the sole reason Mantle feel short of his incredible potential, but rather his fondness of alcoholic beverages. Let's be honest here...we are talking about someone who spent most of his playing career in a seemingly infinite number of bars as late as 3:00/4:00 AM. Obviously playing many games with little to no sleep at all, Mickey unquestionably wasted a myriad of at-bats in a 'comatose-like' state, and we can only wonder how truly great he would have been had he not chose to drink his life away. In retrospect, I find Mantle's accomplishments absolutely amazing considering his rather loose lifestyle, justifying Ted Williams comment that Mantle was the most athletically gifted ballplayer he ever saw.

Joe

I agree with your assessment, Joe, but remember part of the reason he drank so much is that he thought he was going to die young. That's a pretty depressing thing to live with. He even said "if I knew I was going to live as long as I did, I'd have taken better care of myself." That's not to say the specter of Hodgkin's disease was the only reason he partied-he certainly loved the ladies, even though he had a wife in Dallas, but that was a big part of it.

Mick had something like 17 different broken bones. As somebody that's had north of that figure, I can tell you it's just hard getting out of bed, let alone competing against the best baseball players in the world.