After watching this movie the normal person who has never followed baseball would probably assume that Mantle probably quit baseball after the 1961 season because he was in such bad shape physically. Well he went on to play 7 more seasons with the Yanks and put up really good numbers in most of em.
Just shows how great of a player he was even though he was always injured. Imagine what he could of done healthy.
Yeah, even as a life long Tigers fan, I love Mickey and he finished playing before I was born. Had to have one of his original baseball cards as kid because no collection is complete without an original Mickey Mantle card of some kind.
shareI'm not even a Yankees fan, but I acknowledge that, if Mickey Mantle could have had great legs for his entire career, he'd probably be regarded as the best baseball player of all time. The guy probably played at 70 to 75% for his whole career and still put up Hall of Fame numbers.
If on great legs for his whole career, he'd have probably had in the neighborhood of 700 to 750 homers, probably the all time stolen base leader, or at least close 2nd to Henderson, multi-Gold Gloves, there wasn't much of anything he could not do on the field.
Yeah he'd probably be ahead of Bonds now, had he been healthier.
Mantle never hit LESS than 18 homers in a season over his 18 seasons.
Nah he'd be nowhere near Henderson, he'd probably not even be anywhere near 400-500 steals still, just my opinion.
It just would've been proper & more fitting had Mantle broken the Babe's record than Maris.
It's a shame that every year someone else passes him on the Homerun list....
Yup he was the first true 5 tool player IMO.
Watching old games and highlights of him is just magic...its a shame the steroid era had to come away and taint peoples views on the game and the old players legacies.
Oops, my bad. Mantle never hit fewer than 13 homers in a season, not 18.
Another amazing weird stat, Mantle batted .300 or better 10 times, yet still has a career average of .298.... Actually I think it's .2985 or higher.
I absolutely love the movie 61*, I could watch it over & over.
Damn I used to have all those home run derbies on tape, the ones in the late 50's, early 60's, and Mickey was a contestant for a few episodes. I wish I hadn't recorded over them!!!
One of the greats. Imagine what he could have done on steroids!!
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You said it.
shareHomers, yeah; stolen bases, no. While Mick most certainly had the wheels when he was a kid (he was timed at 12 seconds flat circling the bases during spring training in '51), the Yankees' power was such that stealing wasn't part of their strategy. In Mantle's 18 years, they averaged 49.2 stolen bases per year, while Henderson himself averaged 74 over 25 seasons.
If he'd been with another club, maybe, but not as the linchpin of "Murderers' Row II."