Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of Mickey Mantle's death

Gemmy10

Very hard to believe it has been 10 years. I am surprised no one mentioned it. Maybe I just missed the post.

Axtell

It was tough for me to accept his getting a replacement liver ahead of so many others, simply because of his celebrity status.

Even tougher that he died so shortly thereafter, essentially wasting that liver.

stevek

I was a huge Mantle fan growing up as a kid in Connecticut in the 1960s. And I still am a fan. Mantle had some personal faults as we all do, but no one can reasonably argue that he wasn't a superb goodwill ambassador for the game of baseball. Mantle never tired of telling his interesting stories about baseball games, and his reflections of teammates and competitors often told with good humor - what more could really be asked from a Major League Baseball superstar player?

Gemmy10

Stevek, how did you become a Phiilies fan when you grew up a Yankee fan?

Axtell

<< <i>Stevek, how did you become a Phiilies fan when you grew up a Yankee fan? >>



He got smart?

kuhlmann

Stevek, how did you become a Phiilies fan when you grew up a Yankee fan?

he said mantle fan! not yankee fan!

Gemmy10

OK, but he grew up in CT. That usually means a Yankee, Mets, or Red Sox fan and when he said Mantle....but Phillies?

kuhlmann

but Phillies?

ohh thats easy! he was droped when he was a baby!

Gemmy10

LOL

Axtell

At least he chose a team...unlike the spaminator here who says he's a huge fan, has a bunch of tickets, but never seems to go to games?

stevek

Gemmy - My family moved from Connecticut to Philadelphia the summer after I graduated 4th grade. All we used to do in Fairfield all summer long was play baseball and flip & trade baseball cards. My friend's dad who lived across the street actually worked for Topps and used to bring home uncut sheets for us to cutup - Wow, that was fun but darn I sure wish I would have saved some of those sheets - LOL. Below is one of the cards I cut. Before you laugh too much, picture a small kid with one of those little silver scissors trying to cut a large sheet of cards - ain't easy - LOL.

I actually stayed a Yankees and Mets fan throughout High School and even into College. I am very loyal to my sports teams but "gradually" sometime after college I guess from living in Philly so long, I also started rooting for the Phillies as well as the Yankees and Mets, and then again "gradually" became strictly a Phillies fan. Nothing happened overnight...I just gradually lost interest in the New York teams and started rooting full blast for the Philadelphia teams around my late 20s/early 30s and it's been that way ever since. But my fond memories of those Yankees championships from the 60s and of course that spectacular Mets championship in 1969, I will always cherish.

Steve

Gemmy10

Steve,

Interesting story. I grew up in the suburbs of New York in Orange County but have lived in Fairfield County for 12 years now (hard to believe). I have been a Yankee fan since 1969 (the drought years until 1976) and Munson and Murcer were my favorite players.

stevek

<<< Fairfield County >>>

Hey - How about that! I attended Holland Hill Elementary School. Yes I am a Munson fan also.

Gemmy10

Steve, luckily my parents did not throw out my brother's and my 1970 Topps Baseball cards. Since my brother and I could not tell who's were who's we split them up randomly. The cards were in pretty decent shape...PSA 5's thru PSA 7's so I sent some in for grading and bought the rest on eBay to complete the set. Your card has character.

stevek

I kept mine also despite my Mom asking me dozens of times if she could throw out those cards. I'm not sure why mothers back in those days had the propensity to throw out their kid's baseball cards - to this day I still don't understand why?

My main collecting years as a kid were mostly 1962 thru 1966, with 1965 being my most prolific year when I was in the 5th grade attending Fitzpatrick Grade School in NE Philly. I still have many thousands of cards from 1965 but most would only grade 5 or 6 at best because they were played with. I do have an extremely nice 1965 embossed set, most cards never played with - one day I'll get them graded with no doubt many 7's and 8's - possibly some 9's which are almost impossible with how easy it is to scratch up those embossed cards.

Funny story - While living in Connecticut...nobody and I do mean nobody would part with their Yankees baseball cards. When I moved to Philly in the 5th grade, nobody here cared about the Yankees cards, except for Mantle, and so flipped and traded them freely - for me still being a Yankees fan it was like striking a gold mine - LOL.

Steve

Axtell

<< <i>I kept mine also despite my Mom asking me dozens of times if she could throw out those cards. I'm not sure why mothers back in those days had the propensity to throw out their kid's baseball cards - to this day I still don't understand why?

>>



Probably had to due with them not understanding our connection to the cards, and they were just 'junk' like all our other 'toys' growing up...when we stopped playing with them, it meant we were bored with them and it was time to clean them out.

About all I could come up with. I was fortunate, my mother enjoyed looking over my cards with me and never once had to worry about her throwing them away.

greencrow

18 years for the Mick. Time flies! 9 years Today for Julia Child.

DetroitSquirreL

<< <i>It was tough for me to accept his getting a replacement liver ahead of so many others, simply because of his celebrity status.

Even tougher that he died so shortly thereafter, essentially wasting that liver. >>



as someone who was on the list for a organ for 6 years and almost died, I thought the same thing

Estil

I actually still have that long organ donor card that Mantle did the write up for...and do you guys remember the big controversy back then about people thinking it was terrible of people saving those cards thinking "they might be worth something someday" and how "they're worth something now if used as they were intended"? Seems to me being an organ donor using your local DMV office/state ID or whatnot is more effective, but I digress. I even remember another angry letter from Beckett Baseball in which someone was outraged at the higher prices for Mantle cards in light of his then recent death and how "people were taking advantage of a bad situation to make money!"

There's yet another interesting story I remember...I don't know if it really happened or if it was just legend, but Mantle was ready to quit baseball after a big slump in the minors and when he told his father about it, he came over and packed his son's bags in disgust saying that "I thought I raised a man" and that if his son didn't have anymore guts than that, then he should just work with his father in the coal mines. I don't guess I need to tell you what happened next do I?