As I might have mentioned once or twice, I’ve been a Made Yankee Fan in Boston for over four decades.
But beyond that, I’ve been a Made Mickey Mantle Fan for almost 60 years. So the following episode was, well, major.
It was – I dunno – 1961, 1962 when my old man came home one night with a little something special.
He’d been at the Copacabana with some business associates and he ran into Mantle and Whitey Ford, who were out on one of their routine toots.
(I’ve always loved the way Mantle explained how he could hit with a hangover: “I see three baseballs,” he said. “But I only swing at the middle one.”)
Anyway, what the old man brought home that night was this (which I just recently came across):
In my youth, I had my differences – to put it mildly – with the old man (and Jackie’s Agnes was pissed he had gone to the Copa without her), but that night, he was almost as big as The Mick.
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Nice memory. Are you still working on Book One of your trilogy? You should include the picture.
Yeah – Book One (a.k.a. Genesis: East Side Walkup) is probably best left unwritten.
Mickey Mantle was a real baseball star when they were still people who could relate.
But Mantle talent didn’t stop there. He had something most doctors don’t have:
The ability to write legibly.
Yeah – it’s more like a logo than a signature.
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