The home run that launched the myth of Mickey Mantle

LA Times ^ | 3/25/2011

[Altura Ct.]

Sixty years ago in an exhibition game against USC, a young Mickey Mantle hit a home run that became baseball legend and spawned a mystery: Just how far did it go?

It was the first inning, one runner aboard, the count at two balls and two strikes, and Tom Lovrich stared down the 19-year-old rookie batter.

USC's junior ace didn't know much about him, except that he more than filled out his gray New York Yankees uniform.

"He was a strong, country kid from Oklahoma," Lovrich said, recalling the legendary at-bat that took place 60 years ago Saturday. "Very strong."

Lovrich figured the rookie would chase something low and away for strike three, so the 6-foot-5 right-hander known as "Tall Tom" began his sidearm windup and fired.

His head sank as soon he heard the devastating crack of the wooden bat.

"My God," said USC second baseman Stan Charnofsky, watching the ball scream over the wire fence in right-center field. "Look at that."

USC's football practice field ran adjacent to Bovard Field. The ball bounced at midfield and rolled into a huddle.

"Who the hell hit that?" one player asked.

And as they walked off the field, their spring practice complete, another football player learned the answer to that question and told the others.

"Some kid named Mickey Mantle."

Introducing himself

The black-and-white clip is grainy, but the narrator's voice is sharp and upbeat:

"It's big league baseball on Bovard Field as the Trojans become the first college team ever to host a world champion," he begins. "The guests of the day: the New York Yankees."

The myth of Mantle and the legend of "The Mick" began at USC that day.

[Rocky]

You’re right. Myth is the wrong word. It implies that he wasn’t really that great, that his ability was fiction, created by others. Legend is a much better choice.

You would think someone at the LAT would catch that.

[MindBender26]

Exactly. Mantle and the men of his age were real, with real accomplishments, not the PR-created 15-minute phonies who fill our TV screens.

I recently heard a rapper described as a “Musical Hero!”

A few corrections:

Rap is not music!
Emmenem is no hero!

[Right Wing Assault]

I saw both Mantle and Ted Williams in person many times as a kid. I swear they personally beat the Cleveland Indians every Yankess or Red Sox game I went to.

I hated those guys but respected their abilities.

[dennisw]

I’m told Mickey Mantle in his off-season did actual farm work and worked in a rock quarry smashing rocks with a sledge hammer.>>>>>>>>

Bob Feller passed recently. He was the same. When a boy he worked the family farm. He got strong in a well rounded way from doing farm work. This has to be better than lifting weights plus builds character

[FreedomPoster]

Journalists don’t even manage a reasonable command of the English language in Journalism school. It is a sad thing.

They are likely very up on Marxist, Feminist, and LGBTXYZ Theory, however.

[FreedomPoster]

I suspect most of Mantle’s powerlifting was hay bales or similar.

[nikos1121]

Exactly, but the liberals want to tag the “myth” to Mantle as if he was a phony like Sandy Koufax.

I finished the bio of Willie Mays. At the time in New York, fans would watch Mantle and Mays both in center field and a few others. It was really a golden period of baseball.

Then when Mantle got hurt, his game changed. He played hurt every day.

[nikos1121]

Why, the article said it was a myth....

[nikos1121]

Didn’t mean to imply that Koufax was a myth, but being Jewish, the lib writers won’t give him his due. He was another Secretariat on the diamond comes along once in a lifetime.

[DrC]

“It seems to me that muscles forged from real, back-breaking work, are often suprisingly strong for their size.”

I concur. I was amazed he was only 5’11” and 185 lbs. The article says he was built like a running back, but these days, running backs of that height typically clock in at over 200 lbs. http://profootballhuddle.com/archives/1055 So to have that kind of hitting power in a frame that light implies incredibly strong muscles.

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

I remember that distinctly along with the smell of cigar smoke, hot dogs, beer and popcorn hanging in the air on warm late summer nite.(heaven on earth)

You sure do capture the experience of the old-time ball parks. It was the same in Chicago at Commiskey Park. And I would add the sound of the organ playing between innings. I really don't like the current Jumbotrons flashing crap and mega watt speakers blaring away.

[Roklok]

The golden age of baseball. These men were real ball players, not like the pill popping steriod users of today.

[steelyourfaith]

Aw, man, the biggest sports idol of my youth.

Other MM fans might find this vignette interesting. It comes from David Falkner's 1995 book The Last Hero, The Life of Mickey Mantle, pages 180-181.

"Dave Nelson was a rookie second baseman for Cleveland in 1968, Mantle's last year, He was not much of a hitter, but he was quick, could steal a base, get his bat on the ball, and make the plays in the field. His first trip to Yankee Stadium, he said, was memorable in ways he never anticipated. ... 'I was just a young kid then, just turned twenty-three, I think, and there I was in the big leagues, in Yankee Stadium, and I'm just in awe of the place. I don't remember who was on the mound - maybe it was Al Downing,' he said, 'but Mickey was on first and I knew his knees were gone. I had no clue at this time that other clubs had decided some things among themselves out of reverence for him. So, in this one at bat, I pushed the ball, push-bunted right between the pitcher and first base and they had to go for it. I had great speed so it was a base hit. I turn around halfway down the right field line, and there's our first base coach walking towards me, and he stops me and tells me 'Hey, Dave, we don't bunt on Mick out of respect for him.' I go to myself, 'Oh-kayyy.' So then I walked back to first base and I'm standing next to Mickey Mantle. I'm looking at this guy's arms and they look like tree trunks, and I'm saying, 'Man, he's gonna pinch my head off,' and then he pats me on the butt and he says, 'Nice bunt, rook.' And I look at him and say, 'Thanks, Mr. Mantle.'"

[angcat]

My dad’s also. Great man and handsome too!

[laterldf]

He was incredibly fast, especially before his knee problems.

I was listening to a Kansas City Blues game in 1951. Mickey was caught in a run down between first and second. Pretty soon ALL the opposing players were backing up one base or the other. Yet, they couldn’t run him down and he got back in safe. Larry Ray was the announcer.

May he RIP.

Lew, in Ks.

[advertising guy]

source: THE MICK

[ken5050]

Koufax was amazing..I saw him pitch a few times....total domination of batters. However, in the early 60’s, before ESPN, cable, internet, etc..baseball was more localized..maybe regionalized is a better word. The media were centered on both coasts...so players in othe cities didn’t get the exposure. Looking back on it now...Bob Gibson was far and away the best pitcher of the post WW II era...had he playued in NYC...wow...possibly because he was black..there was less national interest.

[driftless2]

Feller did lift weights. There was a story about him getting off a train one time. One of the porters recognized him and eagerly grabbed his traveling bag only to almost have his arms yanked out their sockets as the heavy bag contained Feller’s weights.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

That Robinson homer was a bomb. It went out down the left field line and went clear into the parking lot clearing where the bleachers and grove of trees were later planted.

Worst trade the Cincinnati Reds ever made. I should tell you about the time I was introduced to Milt Pappas (Whom the O’s traded to Cincy for Frank) in Chicago. Funny story.

[driftless2]

Some reference books have him going at 195 or 200. I’m about the same height and at one time weighed 185. Mantle looks a lot stronger than I did at the same weight. I would guess he was closer to 200 than 185. Jackie Robinson was listed at 5’11 and 210 pounds. Mantle’s physique resembles Robinson’s.