Mickey Mantle: The Great Talent in MLB All-Century Team - Essay Sample

Introduction

Mickey Mantle was born in 1931 and died in 1995. The baseball industry regards him as one of the greatest players to have played the game due to his successive career. He had been a great talent in the entire Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1968, where he particularly played for New York Yankees (Hoffer 18). Mantle was a slugger and talented switch hitter in the sport leading to his selection in the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mickey is regarded to be one of the great talents in baseball, but he had a complicated personal life characterized by injuries and family issues, which impacted his career negatively.

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Mantle was a talented baseball player perceived to be one of the greatest players to have existed in the sport. He played in an era when there was a significant fanbase of baseball and extraordinary talents, which attracted huge masses of viewers. Armour states that Mantle was a man whom many New Yorkers wanted to relate to, including a personality for their sons (153). He further states that he was an aw-shucks good old boy, handsome, and someone who struggled with ailments and injuries heroically (153). Mantle demonstrated great interest in playing baseball and worked hard to be on the field to help his team. He was an athletic and strong hitter player whom everyone missed seeing on the field.

Mantle was an achiever with significant rewards, which demonstrates his legacy. Armour describes him as the all-time great of the game having scooped various prominent awards, including three Most Valuable Player Awards, record-536 home runs, twelve American League pennants, a Triple Crown, and seven World Series titles (153). Mickey would have more trophies if it were not the terrible knee injury; he suffered in his prime in 1951. Possibly, he could have hit more than 800 home run and even won more awards. Although he played most games than his teammates, he was in the hospital regularly because of the illnesses and injuries.

However, Mantle has personal problems and struggles, which derailed his career significantly. First, he struggled through diseases and injuries that hampered his playing time in baseball (Kahn et al. 4). The promise of becoming an all-round and more of an achiever was cut short by psychological problems. Consequently, Mantle was engaged in heavy alcohol drinking that caused his premature death. Additionally, Mantle's childhood was also challenging due to the economic difficulties his family faced. The family struggled financially and depended on meager wages from zinc mines. Armour, writes that Mantle's mother was cold, Mantle was abused sexually by his stepsister, his father died from Hodgkin's disease, and he struggled with bedwetting in his teenage life (153).

The challenges faced by Mantle and his inability to achieve the best of baseball dream and a better life are attributed to poor parenting from Mutt, his father. Mutt's involvement in his son's personal life prevented him from accepting a football scholarship from the University of Oklahoma and improved contract from Yankees. Mutt was also significantly involved in the personal life of his son, including disapproving his relationships and engineered many insecurities in Mantle, thereby making him suffer from panic disorder (Kahn et al. 3) As such, the absence of his father triggered him to engage in drinking and womanizing, which were his downfall.

Conclusion

Mickey Mantle was one of the greatest baseball players to have lived in the 19th century. He acquired many awards and helped his team during his prime years into the sports. His life prior and in the baseball was a challenge as characterized in his childhood family challenges and difficulties in personal life. However, Mantle's challenges in adulthood are attributed to too much involvement of Mutt in his life.

Works Cited

Armour, Mark. "The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America' Childhood." Nine, vol. 20, no. 1, 2011, pp. 152-155. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docview/928973113?accountid=8289.

Hoffer, Richard. "Mickey Mantle." Sports Illustrated, vol. 83, no. 8, Aug. 1995, p. 18. EBSCOhost, http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=18a41393-42b2-43c0-9a9b-0b0a52d393a9%40pdc-v-sessmgr06&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=s3h&AN=9508307555

Kahn, Roger, et al. "Remembering Mantle." The Sporting News, vol. 219, no. 34, Aug 21, 1995, pp. 8. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docview/221336253?accountid=8289