The book, which detailed Mantle\u2019s tendencies to overindulge in nightlife, seemed to do little to shock Mantle\u2019s loyal fan base. Fans just readjusted what they knew about him and, if anything, it made him even more popular.<\/p>\n
It was after all, a swinging time for New York athletes\u2014Joe Namath and Walt \u201cClyde\u201d Frazier were current heroes, and it somehow felt permissible to include Mickey in the club.<\/p>\n
Mick\u2019s uniform retirement ceremony was the highlight of the team\u2019s 1969 schedule, as 60,096 people filled Yankee Stadium to see the Mantle plaque added to the outfield wall, and then cheered him so mightily on Old Timers Day a few weeks later, that the Joe DiMaggio introduction that followed was drowned out.<\/p>\n
(We, the PR team, decided later that week to reverse the introduction in the future so DiMaggio could get a full and robust round of cheers all for himself. Bad idea. Joe was not happy and threatened to never return. So we restored him to last, and he returned every year but one for the rest of his life. Mick could hardly care when he was introduced).<\/p>\n
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Two of baseball\u2019s greatest center fielders, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.<\/strong><\/p>\n So now, 1970 came in the wake of the Mantle commotion of 1969. The Yankees were playing better than expected, en route to 93 wins, but never in contention, as Baltimore was running away with the race. Mick was employed as a guest instructor in the Yankees spring training camp, and then as an NBC Game of the Week commentator.<\/p>\n But Yankees team officials were watching the Mets draw nearly 2.7 million as their own attendance struggled to reach 1.1 million. Desperate times seemed to call for desperate measures.<\/p>\n And so, Lee MacPhail, the Yankees general manager, reached for his batphone and called the batcave where the onetime \u201cCommerce Comet,\u201d Mantle himself, resided.<\/p>\n (Actually, he called Mantle\u2019s trusted agent Roy True.)<\/p>\n \u201cWould Mickey like to join us as first-base coach?\u201d said MacPhail. (The Mets had Yogi Berra coaching first.)<\/p>\n Mantle wasn\u2019t happy as an NBC announcer; he didn\u2019t feel that was his calling. Without much hesitation a deal was made, under which Mick would rejoin the Yankees on August 30 for the balance of the season, and then \u201csee about\u201d the future. He was probably paid about five thousand dollars.<\/p>\n Although the story of his leaving NBC and rejoining the Yankees was widely publicized, Mickey never actually informed NBC. The NBC Sports executives chose to shrug their shoulders and let it pass, but, of course, it was not very courteous not to inform one\u2019s employer.<\/p>\n Clubhouse Manager Pete Sheehy hurriedly took Munson\u2019s flannel jersey, well worn from five months of chest-protector use, removed the No. 15 and had a No. 7 sewn on. (His spring training uniform had wandered off at some distant Old Timers Day gathering and never made it home). Munson got a new No. 15.<\/p>\n Mick\u2019s manager was his old manager, Ralph Houk; his fellow coaches were Jim Hegan, Dick Howser, Elston Howard, and Jim Turner. He knew some of the players from the spring, but really, who were these guys? Where were Moose and Whitey and Hank? Who were Danny Cater, Curt Blefary, and Gary Waslewski?<\/p>\n On the appointed day, August 30, Mantle took his old locker near the trainer\u2019s room and began to dress. There on his stool was a memo from PR, outlining his duties for the day\u2014a press conference, a sponsor meet-and-greet, an autograph session, photos on the field with contest winners, a clinic, and a series of phone interviews. \u201cWhat the . . . #@%$!\u201d he started to say, before realizing it was a gag.<\/p>\n \u201cPete, how about bringing me my breakfast of champions?\u201d he said to Sheehy.<\/p>\n Pete wandered down the hall to the press dining room to bring Mick a beverage in a Dixie cup. Ah, yes. The Mick was back.<\/p>\n If seeing Ron Klimkowski, Pete Ward, and Ron Hansen was awkward (where were Billy and Clete and Roger?), nothing was more awkward than the first-base coaching assignment laid before him.<\/p>\n The popular Elston Howard was the team\u2019s first-base coach. Mickey really liked Ellie\u2014he had even suggested that he\u2019d like to room with him while they were players, although black\/white roommates just weren\u2019t happening in Major League Baseball yet.<\/p>\n But the plan was, Ellie would coach the first three innings, Mick the middle three, Ellie the last three. Awkward.<\/p>\n First base coach Mickey Mantle waves to the crowd.<\/strong> Mick was introduced by PA announcer Bob Sheppard before the game, and in the fourth inning, he took his place in the coaching box as 20,980 roared. He doffed his cap again and acknowledged them, feeling a little silly over it all. But he did a good job, because the very next inning, the Yankees\u2019 Roy White hit a grand slam home run to put New York ahead of the Twins 5\u20132, bringing the fans to their feet once again. And that turned out to be the final score. What a coaching debut!<\/p>\n There were only 18 more home games left on the schedule when the fans could see Mick coach first. For a midweek, three-day series against Boston, September 15\u201317, they drew 22,085. Total. Not an average. Mick coaching first was not a real drawing card after all.<\/p>\n The Yankees did later schedule a clinic out in the left field bleachers (not a gag), where Mantle, standing atop the auxiliary scoreboard, was at his most charming\u2014offering tips to youngsters, taking questions, and answering with knowledge and humor. When a teenage girl was called on for a question, she wanted to know if she could have his Yankee cap. She was wearing a cheap Cap Day Yankee cap, and he said, \u201cI\u2019ll trade you.\u201d So she got his Yankee cap and he wore her $1.79 version with the stretch back for the rest of the clinic. It was great fun.<\/p>\n Although the Yankees had already shot their team photo in mid-August, it was decided to shoot it again. The players suggested it. They wanted to be in a team photo with Mickey Mantle.<\/p>\n The season ended with the Yankees holding a champagne party for clinching second place, led by pitchers Fritz Peterson, Stan Bahnsen, Steve Kline, and Mel Stottlemyre. It was very un-Yankee-like to celebrate second place.<\/p>\n The season ended and Mantle returned home to Dallas. Each of the Yankees full-season coaches received a second-place World Series check for $1,179.11, but Mickey, by choice, wasn\u2019t included. He didn\u2019t want to dilute the pool. He agreed to come to spring training in 1971, but as for coaching during the regular season, well, no. Displacing and embarrassing Ellie Howard was the last thing Mick wanted to do. There was a short conversation about not replacing Ellie and just staying in the dugout, but both sides realized that wasn\u2019t what this was all about. It was about visibility.<\/p>\n That was Mickey Mantle\u2019s last job as part of a team, his last team photo. For the next 25 years, he was a baseball wanderer. He made hundreds of autograph show appearances, appeared at Old Timers Games, became a greeter at an Atlantic City hotel, got suspended for that (essentially suspended from his spring training job) by Bowie Kuhn and reinstated by Peter Ueberroth, did some Yankee broadcasting on cable television, some beer commercials, and ran up frequent flyer miles. He remained beloved by the Baby Boomer generation.<\/p>\n Much was written about his life when he died in 1995, but lost to history was that month as a part-time first-base coach, the last regular-season team association he would have.<\/p>\n \n Source: Marty Appel<\/strong><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 1970 New York Yankees were in the midst of their long drought between pennants (1964 to 1976 was the actual span), and despite the emerging stardom of Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer, the team was challenged at the box… Continue Reading ![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.appelpr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Mantle-wave.jpg?resize=640%2C510\")
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\nSource: Marty Appel<\/strong><\/p>\n