Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 336

tall, and 198 pounds, he was not only the strongest hitter, but also the fastest runner. Steroid bloated freaks playing in smaller parks on performance enhancing drugs were not yet invented, and despite that the two longest home runs ever hit are both attributed to Mickey. Seasoned and savvy scouts who saw him before the leg injuries and have seen enough of young phenoms to not be inclined toward glowing commentaries said that they might be looking at the best of all time. “The Mick” had to always undergo the process of arriving early on game day to have both legs taped all the way up.

Born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, Mantle was raised by his father to become a baseball player and was trained early on to become a switch hitter. Despite a career plagued with injuries, first noted with his knee injury in the 1951 World Series, he became one of the greatest offensive threats in baseball history, and

was able to hit for both average and power. He is the only player to hit 150 home runs from both sides of the plate. Mantle hit 536 career home runs while batting .300 or more ten times. Mantle is 16th all-time in home runs per at bat and 17th in on base percentage.

Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956, when he led the major

leagues in batting average - .353, home runs - 52, and runs batted in - 130. He was an All Star for 16 seasons. He also had