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Published: April 26th 2020
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THE MICK
Mickey Mantle grew up in Commerce, Oklahoma. They erected a statue in his honor outside of the high school ball field where he played. SPORTS HEROES If I had to make a list of family sports heroes it would be a short list. Jim Forsberg would be on it for football. Jim is also a war hero. Jim’s brother, Richard, and Richard’s son Andy would be at the top of it for over 50 years of dirt track auto racing. Richard also was an all-star catcher in Little League. My dad would be on it as a superb fly fisherman. My cousin, Jeremy, would be on it for his ability to mightily throw a sixteen pound cannonball nearly over the horizon. Jeremy’s wife, Beaner, plays volleyball and shoots skeet
If the list was expanded beyond family to teammates it would be an even shorter list, because I was on very few teams in my life. I lettered in softball las a pinch hitter at E. V Cain School in Auburn in the 8
th grade. Jim Oe would be on the list for that team. Jim was a fine athlete. In baseball I never got past the peewee leagues. That team was sponsored by the Placer County Bank, and then by the Bank of California, during my reign of terror on it. During my final year of eligibility with the Bankers George Burdick, Sam Simpson and I were the team leaders. George was a catcher and played third base. George grew up to make a living as a fishing guide on the Rogue River in Oregon. He wrote a couple of books about fishing the Rogue and is an environmentalist of some renown around those parts still. Sam was a pitcher an also played third. In the lineup Sam was a clutch hitter. Sam later moved to Foresthill and worked in the lumber industry. I was a pitcher and played first base. In the lineup I was what passed for a power hitter. Me and Sam probably had about same number of runs brought in, but George scored the most runs. He is the best sportsman I know.
Among the big leaguers I grew up watching Mickey Mantle was at the top of list. For most of his long career with the Yankees he played hurt, and that took some fortitude to do. He was a terrifically fast base runner and could bust it down to first base in just over three seconds. He was seldom thrown out and seldom picked off stealing a base. He hit 536 career homers, won many batting titles and participated in winning seven World Series Championships. He played in 2401 games for the Yankees. Derek Jeter finally broke that record about 50 years after Mickey retired from baseball. He was a fine sports hero and is still revered among many of us old timers, but he was not a very good role model for us kids. He drank too much for one thing and his family life was in shambles. Some of his detractors accused him of being a draft dodger during the Korean War. The military sustained his 4F deferment though so he got away with it. Most of those soreheads were Red Sox fans and they had the ass because Ted Williams joined the war effort. Ted was a Marine fighter pilot during WWII and got reactivated to fly in Korea. He had to learn to fly jets instead of Wildcats, but the jets made him a bit airsick. Ted’s wingman in Korea was a fellow named John Glenn. John had flown cargo planes during much of WWII and only began flying fighters near the end of the war. He wanted badly to become an ace and was disappointed that he had fly nursemaid to Ted Williams and keep him out of trouble. After their tour ended Ted returned to the Red Sox and John joined the pilot exchange program and returned to Korea flying with the Air Force. He became a Marine ace flying the F-86. Mickey was an ace in centerfield. His drinking led to liver failure in 1994 and then he got a liver cancer. They rushed him to the top of the list for a transplant because he was in terrible health. The cancer quickly attacked the new liver and it killed him in 1995. He was a great teammate. Besides for Mickey I also liked Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. I liked Gil Hodges and Jackie Robinson too, even though they both played for the Dodgers. Mickey’s roommate was a fellow Billy Martin. It was Billy’s job to keep Mickey out of trouble, just like it was John Glenn’s job to Ted Williams out of trouble. Billy eventually became manager of the Yankees. John Glenn eventually became an astronaut in the Mercury program and was the first guy to make multiple orbits around the Earth in a space capsule. He later became a Congressman from Ohio and was the oldest guy to ever visit the space station. The world is full of heroes.
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