On this day in history, June 8, 1969, the New York Yankees retired slugger Mickey Mantle’s number — No. 7 — in front of some 61,000 Major League baseball fans at the sold-out stadium. People cheered both their approval of the player’s athletic accomplishments and their likely dismay that he had chosen to step away from a remarkable career.
Fellow Yankee Joe DiMaggio presented Mantle with a plaque to hang on the center field wall, as Pin Stripe Alley reported of the day’s events — and Mantle, in turn, presented DiMaggio with one to hang “just a little bit higher.”
The ceremony that day has been described as “emotional” in numerous reports.
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Earlier that year — on March 1, 1969, before the start of the ’69 season — Mantle announced his retirement from professional baseball.
“I can’t hit anymore,” the 37-year-old Mantle said at a news conference at the Yankee Clipper Motel in a room overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, as George Vecsey of The New York Times noted of Mantle’s retirement announcement.
Mantle also said his business interests needed more of his attention, according to reports.
Mantle, at that point in 1969, was baseball’s third leading home run hitter with 536, behind Babe Ruth’s 714 and Willie Mays’ 587, according to reports.
He played his entire 18 years in professional baseball with the New York Yankees, as the Baseball Hall of Fame noted — and was considered “an iconic baseball player with immense talent. His drive and love for the game pushed him past injuries and into the record books.”
The Hall of Fame, in its writeup on Mantle, noted that “the injuries he suffered may have never allowed him to live up to the potential he displayed to the team when he arrived in 1951.”
Even so, “despite never quite being at 100%, Mantle established himself as and one of the game’s best players.”
Mantle was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, in October 1931 and grew up in the state.
He “almost had his career cut short when his leg was infected with osteomyelitis after being kicked in the shin playing youth football,” said the Hall of Fame. “Effects of the disease lasted his lifetime and might have been responsible for other injuries that took much of the speed he had early in his career.”
As a rookie in the 1951 World Series, “Mantle severely injured his right knee while chasing a fly ball, but he returned to the Yankees in 1952 as the starting center fielder — taking over for Joe DiMaggio,” the Hall of Fame also noted.
“He batted .311 with 23 home runs, 87 RBI, and 94 runs scored that season — making the All-Star team for the first of 18 consecutive selections.”
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Mantle was voted most valuable player three times, reported Vescey of The Times.
“He batted as high as .365 in 1957, but his average slipped in the last four years. He batted only .237 last year [in 1968] and his career average slipped to .298.”
Said Mantle to reporters in March 1969, as Vescey noted, “I feel bad that I didn’t hit .300 … But there’s no way I could go back and get it over .300 again. I can’t hit when I need to. I can’t go from first to third when I need to. There’s no use trying.”
From 1953 to 1955, the switch-hitter, wrote the Hall of Fame, “averaged 28 home runs, 98 RBI and 118 runs per season. He led the American League in 1954 with 129 runs and in 1955 he topped the AL with 37 home runs, a .431 on-base percentage and a .611 slugging percentage.”
It went on, “In 1956 he won the AL Triple Crown, batting .353 with 52 home runs and 130 RBI and won the first of two consecutive AL Most Valuable Player Awards. In his first eight seasons in New York, the Yankees won seven AL pennants and five World Series titles.”
In the 1962 season, Mantle missed almost 40 games — yet still he “managed to capture his third MVP title while bringing New York to its third consecutive pennant and second straight world championship,” the Hall of Fame pointed out.
“That season, he batted .321 with 30 home runs, 89 RBIs and 96 runs scored. He also led the league with a .486 on-base percentage and a .605 slugging mark.”
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Overall, he was named to 20 All-Star Games, won a Gold Glove for his play in center field in 1962 and was a part of seven Yankees teams that won the World Series, the Hall of Fame reported.
He hit a record 18 home runs in his 12 appearances in the Fall Classic.
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Mantle was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1974.
He passed away on Aug. 13, 1995 — and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.
