Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes

By Fred Glueckstein

Major League Baseball's Opening Day, 1951. Nineteen-year-old Mickey Mantle puts on the New York Yankees' famous white pinstriped uniform. His stomach roils. Sweat beads his brow. Today is his first major league game in front of a near-capacity crowd at Yankee Stadium, and there is one man Mickey doesn't want to disappoint above all others: his father.

Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes is the uplifting true story of how a painfully shy teenager from rural Commerce, Oklahoma, became one of the biggest stars in Major League Baseball. While he looked to Joe DiMaggio for inspiration and dreamed of someday playing with that great New York Yankee, Mickey's true hero was his dad.

Raised during the Depression, Mickey learned how to catch, hit, and field the ball from his father, Elvin. In high school, Mickey suffered a football injury that revealed a serious bone disorder. He wondered if he would ever play baseball again. But with the support and love of his father, he overcame his affliction and signed with the New York Yankees in 1949.

A moving story of Mickey's early years in baseball, from his difficult rookie season to his triumphant return in 1951, Mickey Mantle portrays the everlasting bond between father and son and the making of one of baseball's greatest legends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 6, 2008
• ISBN: 9780595912070

Fred Glueckstein

Fred Glueckstein is a columnist and the author of several nonfiction books including The ‘27 Yankees; Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes, and Mimi of Nový Bohumín, Czechoslovakia: A Young Woman’s Survival of the Holocaust (1938-1945). He was also a finalist for the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Writing Award in 2006 for his article for ARMY magazine on the last mounted cavalry charge in U.S.military history. Raised in the Bronx, Fred lives with his wife, Eileen, in Kings Park, New York. They have two children, Brian and Debra.

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Copyright © 2008 by Fred Glueckstein

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Picture credits: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

ISBN: 978-0-595-46921-5 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-70936-6 (cloth)

ISBN: 978-0-595-91207-0 (ebk)

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1   Opening Day 1951

Chapter 2   Growing Up

Chapter 3   Signing with the Yankees

Chapter 4   1950

Chapter 5   Spring Training

Chapter 6   West Coast

Chapter 7   New York

Chapter 8   Early Rookie Season

Chapter 9   Kansas City

Chapter 10   Pennant Race

Chapter 11   Clinching the Flag

Chapter 12   World Series

Afterword

Bibliography

Endnotes

For Eileen, Brian, and Debra.

Acknowledgments

I spent long hours in the library researching Mickey’s 1951 season. I would be remiss if I did not thank the staff at the main library in New York City as well the reference staff at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. In particular, I must acknowledge librarian Joseph Eagan at Enoch Pratt for introducing me to a set of new research tools.

As in the past, the staff at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown was wonderful. Senior researcher Bill Francis was always available. Pat Kelly, the Hall of Fame’s photo archivist, worked with me to select the photographs that appear in this book. Permission to use the photographs in the book was granted by the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thanks must also go out to Stephen and Cheryl McCarty of Wakefield, Rhode Island, new friends that my wife Eileen met at a talk I gave at the invitation of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum and Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Steve and Cheryl, who are both dedicated Yankee fans and knew Mickey, took an immediate interest in my manuscript. Steve, an expert on Mickey’s career (Mickey himself was always astonished at Steve’s knowledge of his days as a Yankee), and I discussed the manuscript at Cooperstown. Steve’s comments were very much appreciated.

I must also thank Ernie Imhoff, my pal, and author of the Good Shipmates: the Restoration of the Liberty Ship John W. Brown, Volumes One and Two. Ernie, a distinguished former editor of the Baltimore Sun, always had an encouraging word. Talking with Ernie about writing, journalism, and baseball was always a joy, especially over lunch at the Cafe Hon. Ernie, a card-carrying member of the original Mickey Mantle Fan Club, saw all the Yankees of the ‘50s: Mick, Joe DiMaggio, Tommy Henrich, the Scooter, Yogi, Bobby Brown, Jerry Coleman, Allie Reynolds, Ed Lopat, and the rest.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife Eileen for her encouragement. A nonfiction book takes a great deal of time and research. Only through her support and understanding was the completion of the manuscript possible.

Preface

In 2006, I had the good fortune to exchange letters with George M. Steinbrenner, the principal owner of the New York Yankees. In my letter to Mr. Steinbrenner, I mentioned that I was writing a book for young adults on Mickey Mantle and his rookie year (1951). In a very gracious letter to me, he wrote: Mickey Mantle was born to wear ‘pinstripes’ and his rookie year story will provide you with quite a bit of writing fodder.

Mr. Steinbrenner was right.

More than a riveting baseball tale, Mickey’s rookie season is an inspiring story of a shy young man from the heartland of America, of a father’s dream, a son’s love for his dad, and the meaning of courage.

Researching and writing about Mickey was also a sweet return to my own youth.

As a youngster growing up in the Bronx in the 1960s, my friends and I lived in the shadows of Yankee Stadium. We walked one block up from our neighborhood on 165th Street and Sheridan Avenue to the Grand Concourse, the main boulevard of the borough. From there it was a short stroll past Joyce Kilmer Park with its Lorelei Fountain celebrating the German poet Heinrich Heine. The park’s green fields were guarded (mainly so kids couldn’t play ball on them) by adjoining cement-framed benches with rows of single wooden planks. Passing the famous Bronx landmark, the reddish-brown edifice Concourse Plaza Hotel, we came to the main thoroughfare, 161st Street.

Walking down 161st Street, we passed the familiar stores and buildings of our youth: the Hebrew National Delicatessen, with its mouthwatering aromas (the waiters in white shirts and black slacks were as much of the tradition as the frankfurters, mustard, pastrami, and knishes), and the newspaper and candy store that also sold legal forms (the overhead sign read Law Blanks).

We passed the monumental gray granite and limestone Bronx County Courthouse, a combination of neoclassical and modern architecture that was popular in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, a corner bank, other stores whose images have dimmed with the passage of time, and the Earl Theater, a small movie house where we spent many rainy Saturday afternoons.

Reaching River Avenue, we crossed the bustling street. Noise came hurling at us from the cars, taxis, and overhead subway. People streamed down the stairs from the elevated subway station. Others strolled on River Avenue with its souvenir shops, bars, and bowling alleys. Crossing the avenue, we reached our destination: Yankee Stadium, the most famous baseball park in the country.

On those beautiful days in New York, when the skies were a brilliant blue and the sun shone brightly, there was no other place a kid wanted to be. It was the best of times. From the upper grandstands, or on occasion behind the visitor’s dugout where a friend’s dad frequently obtained tickets, we would marvel at the beauty of Yankee Stadium. Looking around, you appreciated its manicured green outfields, perfectly raked brown dirt infield, black scoreboard, and famous white facade.

The welcoming smell of the ballpark was always pleasant and satisfying.

The air was filled with the aroma of freshly cut grass, hotdogs, and cotton candy. Stadium vendors hawked their beer, peanuts, and programs. Fans quickly jostled to their seats and settled in. The grandeur of the setting was made even more enjoyable as we listened to the majestic voice of Bob Sheppard, the Yankees’ public address announcer.

Sheppard greeted all with his trademark opening, Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Yankee Stadium.

Cheering on our heroes, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, and Whitey Ford, was what we looked forward to most. Watching them on the field tossing balls to each other before the game in their white pin-striped uniforms and blue caps with the white NY monogram was, as Ernest Hemingway said of Paris, a moveable feast.

Like so much of our youth, we remember what we cherish.

After the publication of my nonfiction baseball book on the legendary 1927 Yankees of Ruth and Gehrig, The ‘27 Yankees, I decided to write a young adult nonfiction book on baseball of a different era. I decided it would be about the one player that I admired most of all, Mickey Mantle.

The switch-hitting star of the Yankees was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. During his fabulous career, he hit 536 home runs (373 left-handed, 163 right-handed) and was a three-time American League Most Valuable Player. From 1951 through 1964, Mickey played in twelve World Series, of which the Yankees won seven. His World Series records included eighteen home runs, forty runs batted in, forty-two runs scored, and forty-two base-on-balls.

I was not alone in my admiration of Mickey.

While speaking on the The ‘27 Yankees at numerous engagements, including the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum and the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum & Sports Legends Museum at Cam-den Yards, I met many baseball fans. When the conversation turned to the great Yankee players of all time, the same four names always surfaced: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle.

Listening to people talk about Mickey, I appreciated why he was one of history’s most beloved ball players. Mickey’s legendary home runs were always the center of our talk, as were his injuries and the courage he displayed on the diamond. Fans talked about Mickey’s leadership on the field and how he inspired his teammates even while battling debilitating pain. Many people remembered his loyal and long-lasting friendships on and off the field with teammates Whitey Ford and Billy Martin.

Mickey was the baseball star we all dreamed of becoming in our youth. An earlier generation of fans argued endlessly about who was the best centerfielder playing in New York in the 1950s—the New York Giants’ Willie Mays, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Duke Snider, or the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle?

As a writer, a columnist, and a contributor to the Society for American Baseball Research’s Baseball Biography Project, I was captivated by Mickey’s childhood and early career. I considered this the most important time of his life because it later defined the character of the man and ballplayer. So I decided to write about Mickey’s rookie year with the World Champion New York Yankees in 1951; a time when he was only nineteen years old and already proclaimed the successor to his idol, Joe DiMaggio.

Rather than treating this period of his life as a fleeting segment, as is often done in the more traditional full-length adult biographies, I wanted to write a book highlighting only this period of his young formative life.

Why was I so drawn to Mickey’s rookie year, when his greatest seasons were to come later?

For me, there were unanswered questions.

What was it like to arrive in New York as one of the most heralded young players of a generation, a youngster who had been elevated to the major leagues and the most famous baseball franchise after only two years in the lowest classifications of professional baseball?

How did a painfully shy youngster with blond hair and freckles from rural Oklahoma handle the unprecedented attention showered upon him in the media-frenzied capital of New York City?

How did Mickey handle himself with the older Yankee veterans like Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, and his manager Casey Stengel? How did the Yankee players and manager act toward the rising young star?

How did Mickey perform as a rookie at the major league level? Did Mickey immediately live up to the expectations of people like Red Patterson, the Yankee publicity man? Red said this about Mickey’s future stardom: It’s the law of mathematical progression. Babe Ruth wore number 3 and was succeeded by Lou Gehrig, who wore number 4. Gehrig was succeeded by Joe DiMaggio who wears number 5. Have you noticed that Mantle wears number 6? ¹ The answers made a great story.

Sykesville, Maryland October 2007

Chapter 1

Opening Day 1951

There was excitement in the air.

As the crowd of almost forty-five thousand fans streamed into Yankee Stadium on Opening Day, April 17, 1951, the buzz was all about the New York Yankees’ rookie sensation, Mickey Mantle. From Commerce, Oklahoma, and only nineteen years old, Mickey was already being touted by the New York sportswriters as the successor to Joe DiMaggio—one of the immortals in Yankee history.

As Mickey put on the Yankees’ famous white pin-striped baseball uniform in the clubhouse, he knew he was under intense pressure. He was playing in his first major league game in front of a near-capacity crowd at Yankee Stadium in New York alongside his hero, Yankee legend Joe DiMaggio.