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Mickey Mantle was born to play baseball. His father, who passionately loved the game, named his son after Mickey Cochrane, the great Hall of Fame catcher of the 20s and 30s. He taught Mick to switch-hit at the age of five. And despite contracting osteomyelitis, a disease that almost cost him his left leg as a youngster, Mantle fought back and made his dad proud.
The New York Yankees signed Mantle in 1949 to a minor league contract as a shortstop. While his offense was tremendous, he also lead the league in errors. The Yankees switched him to right field and called him up in 1951, but sent him back down for more work.
In 1952, Mantle took over for the retired Joe DiMaggio in center field. Despite many injuries and poor treatment from ownership over the years (he was once asked to take a paycut after an MVP season), Mantle became one of the greatest power hitters ever.
He won four homerun titles (1955, β56, β58, and β60), three MVP awards (β56, β57, and β62), and the Triple Crown award in 1956, notching 52 homers, 130 RBI, and a .353 average.
In 1961, he and teammate Roger Maris fought all season for the homerun crown. Maris eventually won, 61-54, but Mantle lead the league with a .687 slugging percentage, 132 runs, and 126 walks. All of Mantleβs accomplishments lead the Yankees to seven World Series victories. He also owns World Series records for homeruns, RBI, walks, runs, and strikeouts.
Mantle retired after the 1968 season with 536 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.
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