The Mick, whose real name is Mickey Charles mantle, was born in 1931 in Oklahoma. He was named after a baseball Hall of Famer named Gordon “Mickey” Cochrane. He grew up on a farm and played baseball since a young age. He was a gifted athlete that played football, baseball, and basketball in high school. After a football shin injury, he developed a bone disease called Osteomyletis. This disease would haunt him into his pro baseball career. He began to play with on the Baxter Spring Whiz Kids a semi-pro baseball club at the age of sixteen. Later he was signed by the New York Yankees and joined their minor league system. He was a very versatile player who originally played shortstop in the minor leagues, but when he was called up to the Major Leagues, he played right field, and eventually in 1952, he became their center fielder, and then first baseman.

His accolades include once hitting for the Triple Crown, which meant he led the league in batting average, homeruns, and runs batted in. He won three Most valuable Player Awards in 1956, 1957, and 1962. He won seven World Series titles, hit 536 home runs; He played his entire 18-year career in New York Yankee pinstripes. Some consider the Mick one of the greatest baseball players in Yankee history. If his bone condition wouldn’t have hampered his playing career, he might have accumulated more baseball records, for he often swallowed his pride and played injured. He was inducted into the Hall of fame in 1974.

In these times of inflated baseball salaries the Mick was paid the most for his time period, he made $75,000 a year in 1961. However, he made many poor business decision’s that left him poor, but that soon changed in the 1980’s where sports memorabilia made him a rich man. He signed autographs for a hefty amount at several sports cards shows across the nation. He was once suspended from baseball for promoting casinos in Atlantic City in 1983 but was renewed into the sport in 1985. He was married and had four children. He was portrayed in the movie 61* by actor Thomas Jane. He hit some of the furthest home runs in the history of baseball. He once hit a ball approximately 600 feet. He also holds the World Series record for most home runs with 18, runs scored with 42, and runs batted in with 40. Mickey was an alcoholic who denounced liquor in a highly publicized article in Sports Illustrated article in which he stated that he was mean during his drinking binged. He died in 1995.