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(Excerpted from the award-winning DVD,Mickey Mantle: The American Dream Comes To Life® - The Deluxe LostStories Edition - Mickey Mantle tells his own life story (autobiography) on DVD. Click Here to learn more about it.Click Here to see an outline of the contents of the DVD.) | ||
Part 2: Mickey Signs with the Yankees
Scout Tom Greenwade Discovers Mickey
In 1948 NY Yankees' scout Tom Greenwade came toBaxter Springs to watch Mickey's teammate, third baseman Billy Johnson,in a Whiz Kids game. During the game Mickey hit two homers, onerighty and one lefty, into a river well past the ballpark's fences. Greenwadewanted to sign Mickey on the spot but, upon finding out that he was onlysixteen and still in high school, told him he would come back to sign himwith the Yankees on his graduation day in 1949. Good to his word, Greenwadewas there right on schedule, signing Mickey to a minor league contractwith the Yankees Class D team in Independence, Kansas. Mickey signed for$400 to play the remainder of the season with an $1,100 signing bonus.It was one of the great steals in baseball history. Tom Greenwade was quotedin the press release announcing Mickey's signing as saying that Mickeywas the best prospect he'd ever seen. Mickey's Blazing Speed
After finishing the summer at Independence, wherehis team won the K-O-M (Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri) Championship (the beginningof Mickey's incredible string of playing for championship teams), Mickeywent on to play at the Yankees' Class C team in Joplin, Missouri. The followingyear, 1951, Mickey was invited to spring training with the Yankees in Arizona.Mickey had one of the great rookie springs in history. His speed was unbelievableto Yankees' manager Casey Stengel. (Mickey's a blur as he races from home to first in the photo on the right.) He was clocked at an incredible 2.9seconds from home to first on a left-handed drag bunt (after his 1951World Series injury he slowed to a still blazing 3.1 seconds), andcould round the bases in an amazing 13 seconds! He pounded homersto places where a ball had rarely been seen hit before and, by the timethe Yankees reached New York for their exhibition series with the BrooklynDodgers, Casey talked Yankees' owners Del Webb and Dan Topping, and GeneralManager George Weiss into bringing Mickey up to the Yankees for the season.It was the first time any player jumped from Class C directly to the Yankees.World Series Injury First of Many Injuries
Except for a brief visit to the minor league teamin Kansas City later that summer, Mickey never looked
back. That fall theYankees played the New York Giants in Mickey's first World Series. Yankees'center fielder Joe DiMaggio, in the last season of his career, was slowedby a nagging heel injury. Casey Stengel asked Mickey to help DiMaggio incenter (Mickey was playing right-field) and on a pop fly by Willie MaysMickey's spikes caught in a drain cover when he stopped suddenly to avoida collision with Joe. Mickey went down as if he'd been shot, and was carriedfrom the field on a stretcher. It was the first of what turned out to bemany injuries he suffered during his playing career.One of the questions baseball scholars ponderis the great "What if?" What would Mickey have accomplished if he had beenhealthy during his career? A question that will never be answered, butthe answer certainly would make a staggering difference in Mickey's lifetimestats. What if...?
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