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Mickey Mantle Photo Gallery
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Thanks to Steve Falco for his timely reminder that last Sunday, May 1, was the anniversary of Mickey Mantle’s first home run. Steve provides some interesting details from the game. Also read to the bottom to see that Steve is generously offering seven free copies of his book, Mickey Mantle’s Last Home Run to the first seven who request it. -GL
Mickey Mantle’s First Home Run
Seventy-one years ago last Sunday, May 1, 1951, the New York Yankees squared off against the Chicago White Sox on a cool day in Comiskey Park. Yankee starter Vic Raschi was matched up against Chicago lefty Bob Cain. Nineteen-year-old Mickey Mantle was batting leadoff and playing right field. Jackie Jensen was in center field for the injured Joe DiMaggio.
The Yankees got off to an early 5-2 lead and Cain left for a pinch hitter. His
replacement, the grizzled right-hander Randy Gumpert, took over in the top of the sixth. With one out and Raschi on second after a double, Mantle stepped to the plate batting lefty. Gumpert had faced many sluggers in his day, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and he knew the expectations placed on the young Mickey Mantle. He knew the rookie was under intense pressure to perform and he thought he would be overanxious at the plate. So Gumbert served up a changeup. But the talented phenom wasn’t fooled and blasted the ball more than 400 feet into the center-field bullpen.
It was Mickey Mantle’s first home run and according to the Mick his most memorable. Yankee backup catcher Charley Silvera was in the outfield bullpen where the ball landed and thoughtfully retrieved it. The Mick would inscribe the ball:
My first home run in the majors May 1, 1951, 4:50 PM in Chicago, 6th inning off Randy Gumpert.
Mantle would later display the ball in his Hilton Hotel in Joplin, Missouri. The town of Joplin was significant to Mickey because it was there that he launched his career with a scorching .383 batting average in 1950 that caught the eyes of the Yankee brass. Mantle went on to hit 535 more home runs and 18 additional home runs in the World Series. When he hit his last home run in September 1968, he was number three on the all-time home run list behind only Babe Ruth at 714 and Willie Mays at 587.
In honor of Mickey Mantle’s first home run and his iconic #7, I will be giving away 7 copies of my novel Mickey Mantle’s Last Home Run. My book has been described by Kirkus Reviews as “an emotionally satisfying story of friendship and a well-written sports tale with excellent, detailed scenes of characters observing and playing the game, and will appeal to fans of good sports writing.”
Just contact me via email safalc6@gmail.com and I’ll mail you the book postage free.
Steve Falco
Mickey Mantle’s Last Home Run available on Amazon
References: BleacherReport.com
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Those are some great photos!
Thanks Steve, real nice essay!
Gary- Always enjoy your writing and accompanying photos. Maybe it was a typo, but it’s Bob Elson, not Elston.
Thanks Dave…not a typo. Even though I live in Chicago and heard Bob ELSON for many years, I’ve always thought that was how his name was spelled. I guess I had him confused with Don Elston, the Cubs’ fine reliever from that era. By the way, his partner from the early years, Milo Hamilton, could do a killer impression of the “Commander.” Thanks again!
Hello Steven, Gary:
I have to laugh at our collective obsession with baseball heroes from out of the long ago — and the recognition that my own affliction is probably among the very worst of the lot.
For a wide variety of compelling reasons it seems that Mickey Mantle, above all other icons from the decades of our misspent youth, has indeed caught and held our attention and affection, particularly in recent years. The story of his star-crossed life and career is one of a kind, in my opinion, and Steven’s portrait here is a great reminder of how that is so.
Who else was blessed by The Lord Above with such magnificent physical gifts? No one. Who else spent a lifetime effectively discarding those blessings at warp-speed, and in the process igniting the imaginations of every fan, Yankee haters included, who was lucky enough to see some of his super-human heroics on the field? Same answer.
When people quote the old aphorism, “Live hard, die young, leave a great-looking corpse,” they have to be thinking of Mickey Mantle. He did all those things, without question. He was positively driven to perform and to self-destruct, virtually simultaneously. If he had been another Ted Williams, Stan Musial or Ernie Banks, by definition he would have wound up in the Hall of Fame as they did, but his story wouldn’t have been nearly as gripping and inspiring as it turned out to be. Unlike those guys and anyone else you could think of, he literally tore himself to pieces while tearing through the record books. Ironically, his legacy is all the richer and more permanent for it.
In the end, this bigger-than-life drinker and late-night carouser with powerhouse athletic genes to spare, abuse and lay to waste redeemed himself totally, in my opinion. He frankly acknowledged that he had “screwed up,” and urged youngsters to reject the examples from his private and professional life. He did everything one could think of to make amends. His humility and humanity became further sources of inspiration and guidance.
I guess this helps to explain why we insist on looking back at Mantle’s first major-league homer, of all silly things, and ponder the might-have-beens of his flame-out career until we’re purple. We just cannot let go of the guy. His hooks are deep, and so it will always be.
Thanks, you two, for another great piece! May God bless Mickey Mantle.
Kindest regards,
Michael
Wonderful tribute and well said, Michael, and we greatly appreciate it. I think all of us here frequenting the site would agree with your accurate, concise assessment of Mickey’s life and career.
Michael, that is a wonderful sentiment and beautifully expressed. I agree with it totally. But Mickey Mantle is even more than that as I try to express in my novel Mickey Mantle’s Last Home Run. He was the symbol of a lost era in our history. A time for many of us growing up that was all about baseball and “how did the Mick do today.” An almost idyllic time when all some of us cared about was if Mickey hit a home run.
That all seemed to end when Mickey faded from the scene in 1968 and our country began to unravel.
Hello Steven,
Yes, agreed. In my mind Mickey Mantle remains to this day what you’re calling a “symbol of a lost era in our history.” In fact I believe many of us miss him all the more now than we did in the wake of his retirement, primarily for that reason.
He has crossed the river all right, but as our beloved nation continues to disintegrate I feel his presence about as strongly as when he was flesh-and-blood.
I’m certainly looking forward to reading your book! You have already introduced a philosophical perspective into the discussion of this unforgettable sports icon here. I find it a valuable addition to our many hot-stove debates over stats, past pennant races, small-ball vs. the long bomb, the Hall-of-Fame worthiness of former players, or how the Great Game of Baseball has changed over the years.
Just as importantly, I’m hoping all this has the approval of Sir Gary Livacari and his many other readers.
Best wishes,
Michael
Wow! Are you referring to me?? That’ll go right to my heard for sure!
Once again very well-expressed Michael. When Mickey hit his last home run in September 1968 just think about what else we lost in that fateful and tragic year. Remember Paul Simon’s great line, “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio our nation turns its lonely eyes to you”. For our generation you could just substitute Mickey Mantle.