SportsChatter |

As a kid growing up in the 1950’s, Mickey Mantle was my hero. He was a hero to millions of kids back then. When the Yankees were scheduled to be on TV on Saturday(only day they broadcast baseball back then) I would be there watching. Here is a portion of the eulogy  that Bob Costas gave at his funeral in 1995 that sums it up:

“But I guess I’m here not so much to speak for myself, as to simply represent the millions of baseball loving kids who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s and for whom Mickey Mantle _was_ baseball. And more than that, he was a presence in our lives. A fragile hero, to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic. Mickey often said he didn’t understand it, this enduring connection and affection. The men, now in their 40’s and 50’s, otherwise perfectly sensible, who went dry in the mouth and stammered like schoolboys in the presence of Mickey Mantle. Maybe Mickey was uncomfortable with it not just because of his basis shyness, but because he was always too honest to regard himself as some kind of deity.”

I don’t know if there  has been another baseball player before or since him that has captured the heart, soul and imagination of so many people. I think one thing that might have attributed to him being a hero to so many was TV. Players like Ruth and Gehrig, people could only hear about them in news papers or on the radio. Mantle, along with Mays and Aaron came along about the time people were able to buy TV’s, so they were the first players most of us could actually watch. We were able to put a face on our very own hero.

If you were a Mickey Mantle fan, go to the link above and read the eulogy that Costas wrote and then tell me you were not moved when you read it.

• On This Date in Baseball History-October 14 On October 14, 2006, at Comerica Park in Detroit, Tiger right fielder Magglio Ordonez slugs a three-run, walk-off homer off A's closer Huston Street to win the American League pennant. On October 14, 2003, three walks, three singles, three doubles, an error, and one ball grabbed by a fan......
• Did You Know This about Baseball and TV For the record, the first-ever televised baseball game  was on May 17, 1939, when Princeton defeated Columbia 2-1 at Columbia's Baker Field. The contest was aired on W2XBS, an experimental station in New York City which would ultimately become WNBC-TV. About 400 TV sets carried the game, announced by Bill......

• Mind and Ego The language gets sketchy. Is mind thinking? Isn’t thinking just an action? Awareness goes beyond thinking. The mind as we know it comes after, not before. It’s automatic and it is why people get so tripped up. They are told to control your mind. Free yourself from your mind. Like......
• Erin Andrews Exposed Well my previous article, “5 Reasons Why Watching ESPN Is the Same as Watching E!” came out in rather spooky unison with the release of nude footage of ESPN’s Erin Andrews. Guess you can add yet another scandal to the archives of ESPN. In fairness to Ms. Andrews, this......