Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Damn Yankees
Page 360
emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic." He continued; “In the last year of his life, Mickey Mantle, always so hard on himself, finally came to accept and appreciate the distinction between a role model and a hero. The first, he often was not. The second, he always will be. And, in the end, people got it.”
At Mantle's request made prior to his death, Bobby Richardson read the same poem he recited at Roger Maris's funeral; "God's Hall of Fame," written by a baseball fan. He later described it being one of the most difficult things ever did.
Mantle was interred in the Mantle Family Mausoleum, located in the St. Matthew section of the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas. As per his wishes, the phrase "A Great
Teammate" was carved on the plaque marking his resting place.
On August 25, 1996, Mantle's Monument Park plaque was replaced with a monument bearing the words "A great teammate" and keeping a phrase that had been included on the original plaque; "A magnificent Yankee who left a legacy of unequaled courage." Since the opening of current Yankee Stadium in 2009, Mantle's monument has stood at the current Monument Park.