MANTLE

[jcolec02]

ok so I was watching HBO a few days back and saw a documentary on the great Mickey Mantle...and I gotta say...IT WAS GREAT!!!

I couldnt belive it...I didnt see or hear or even detect on hint of a caste bias towards him or his career or his athletic ability....youd all have to see it to belive it...they had guys like Skip Bayless...from 1st and 10 on espn....and Bob Costas....and even Ed Harris, ranting and raving on Mantle's Star Status...his great speed...strength....hitting...fielding...everything....they talked about his speed so much I couldnt belive it...they said when he ran it looked like everyone else was standing still...and that he ran like a deer...they spoke of his dashing good looks...his ripped phyisique...and his boyhood worship from millions of young fans...I COULDNT BELIVE I WAS WATCHING HBO!!! if you get a chance you should check it out it is simply called MANTLE...oh and one more thing...my favorite comment was by Billy Crystal...he said "if you were to draw up a perfect ball player...when you saw him you would simply say...thats the guy...thats him...no need to draw him up because he is standing right there" in this documentary they often speak of him as "the natural" because he had it all!!!

 

[white is right]

Mantle's icon status was about as close to Ruth that anybody has gotten since Ruth.

 

[Gary]

Mickey Mantle was the hero of all the boys I grew up with,even though we lived in Akron which is close to Cleveland we were all fans of Mantle.Mickey was exciting every time he came to bat because you knew he was capable of hitting a real long homerun.Mickey was exciting even when he struck out!!

 

[Don Wassall]

He was my boyhood hero. He was also about the last white athlete given the kind of favorable treatment by the media that we see so many black athletes receive today. By the late '60s the only white athlete who had "charisma" was counterculture figure Joe Namath, and after that it became a black only monopoly in perpetuity in that department.


The reason Mantle can get favorable treatment even now is because he was idolized by so many people who otherwise favor the Caste System, like Billy Cristal and Bob Costas. They can let their feelings about Mantle be known, but they'll neverraise anyquestions aboutthe stark difference between how white athletes were treated by the media then as compared to now.

 

[sport historian]

Several months ago, I posted the fact that Mickey Mantle was the Number 1 pro athlete of his time. This was in the categories of both popularity and performance, especially in the time period of 1956-1964.

Mantle was the last white athlete to have this status. Joe Namath was the most famous pro athlete of the late 1960's, but much of his popularity was due to being described as a "countercultural" figure, as Don says.

I remember several years ago, I saw a quotation regarding Mantle from former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Kuhn said, "We never had another Mickey Mantle, but Baseball prospered anyway." I wonder if Kuhn meant (while not saying it) that Baseball did well despite not having another white superstar with Mantle's ability and appeal.

 

[jcolec02]

I dont meen to nitpick Don, but what about Brett Farve, or Larry Bird? I'm not old enough to really understand how much Mantle meant to people, but I find it suprising that Favre wasnt as popular...or even Marino, or Montana.

 

[sport historian]

As someone old enough to remember when Mickey Mantle was the top pro athlete, Marino and Montana were never as big on the American sports scene as Mantle was at his peak. Larry Bird wasn't either. Bird often had his physical skills (unfairly) downgraded. Nobody could disparage the athletic gifts of Mickey Mantle, who could get to first in 3.1 seconds on a drag bunt and hit the ball 500 feet from either side of the plate.

 

[Don Wassall]

There are certainly white athletes who are still very popular, like Favre, Bird, Montana, etc. But I would compare Mickey Mantle's popularity to the kind of media worship given to Michael Jordan, Michael Vick, Muhammad Aliand Tiger Woods, except in Mantle's case it was felt more at the grassroots level rather than imposed top-down (from the media to the fans),such as theludicrous overkillin coverage given Tiger. The media reserves reverence only for exulted black athletes, and of course black basketball and football players also get the vast majority of commercial endorsements.


Mantle played in the 1950s and retired before the 1969 season. It was in the late '60s that the all-out psychological war against whites was cranked up by the system at all levels of society, including the Caste System in sports. In the '50s and into the '60s the U.S. was still a white country, and believe it or notit was common for people to express that sentimentthroughout American history until the Permanent Cultural Revolution began in earnest around 1967.

 

[jcolec02]

does anyone know what Mantle ran or would have ran on the 40 yard dash??? he seems like he would have been a great running back.

 

[white tornado]

I heard that When the Yankees traveled around Micks teamates whould organise races agenst local speedsters and bet money on the race. One day the Mickey raced agenst a member of the Olimpic sprint team and still one the race.

 

[Gary]

Don-good points you made.Do you think these Russian fighters will ever be given credit by the media here in the US for being very good at what they do.Vitali did more to damage there image then anyone has in a long time.Until he came along White fighters were almost laughed at, but no one is laughing now.There is now a mad scrabble for a black hope to beat the Eastern European.Is it because there White?Because there Russian [former foe of the US-cold war]or is it because they have smashed the PC system [at least in boxing].
Has anyone seen a TV commercial with a Russian selling shaving cream,sports shoes,cars or anything?It must really give these liberal media boys jock itch to watch in horror as there hero's go down to defeat one by one!!

 

[Alpha Male]

The media will say it's because they are foreign. However, if the influx of boxers were from Nigeria, the media hype would be extreme. Hakeem the Dream had commericals. Where are Vladimir's or Vitali's? What about Ricky Hatton?

 

[white is right]

The media will say it's because they are foreign. However, if the influx of boxers were from Nigeria, the media hype would be extreme. Hakeem the Dream had commericals. Where are Vladimir's or Vitali's? What about Ricky Hatton?

I recall Johanssen being a media sensation after koing Patterson. But that was a different time and place and boxing was alot more popular of a sport.......