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500 for the Mick!
Mantle Slugs Landmark Homer
BROOKLYN (June 15) -- If there were any doubts remaining over who is the best player in UL history, the final weeks of the "race to 500" has put them to rest.  Mickey Mantle today became the first player in league history to hit 500 career home runs, sprinting to the landmark clout with three homers in four days, while rival Willie Mays, with one home run all year, limps to a finish line he may never reach.

Mantle's historic clout is the crowning achievement of a colossal career that has spanned the entire 18-year history of the league and left the switch-slugging center fielder with enough league records to fill several trophy cases at his home in Commerce, Oklahoma.  Mantle is the all-time leader in nearly every significant counting category, including games, at-bats, runs, hits, total bases, home runs, RBIs, walks, and strikeouts.

So dominant has Mantle been that his career has become synonymous with that of the League itself.  Indeed, Mantle's rookie year was also the United League's inaugural year.  Mantle played eight years with the Boston Beacons and one with the Chicago Colts before joining Brooklyn in 1960, but despite some great early seasons (the 1953 MVP campaign in which he hit .317-32-121 comes to mind) his career will always be associated with the great Superba teams of the early and mid-Sixties.  It is no coincidence that the peak years of Mickey's career coincide with the Superbas' run of six titles in seven years (1960-66).  Mantle had 30-homer seasons in all seven of those years, and drove in at least 100 runs in every year save one.  Mantle twice had OPSs over 1.000: 1960 (.290-43-132) and 1964 (.340-39-106), when he claimed his second MVP and Brooklyn won its record fifth title in a row.

The historic homer came in front of a capacity crowd at Frank Thomas Memorial Stadium, in the fifth inning of a close game with the St. Louis Maroons.  With the score tied 1-1 and Dick McAuliffe on second, Mantle lifted a Joe Niekro curveball 390 feet to right.  Met at home plate by McAuliffe and Jim Gentile, Mickey was soon surrounded by his teammates, who lifted him onto their shoulders and paraded him around the infield to the cheers of Superba fans who have had less to cheer about in recent years.

Before his three homers in four days, Mantle had only 6 home runs in 42 games, extending the so-called "Race to 500" months longer than anticipated.  But the end of the chase proved to be not only delayed, but anti-climatic, because Mantle's rival Willie Mays has slumped so badly this year that folks in Washington are whispering (because nobody would say such things out loud) that Mays may be forced to retire before his reaches 500 homers.  Mays is hitting .212, has one home run in 58 games this year, and has been demoted to a pinch-runner role on the Washington bench.  Mays, 36, has 490 home runs, and is in the last year of a $12 million contract with the Monuments.  It would take a remarkable second half surge for Mays to accumulate 10 home runs when he has hit only six in the last year and a half, and inside sources say the veteran center fielder, who has played his entire career in a Monuments uniform, is playing in constant pain and is contemplating retirement.  For his part, Mantle has slowed down, but continues to hit well (.275-9-38, .863 OPS), and fully expects to play out his $9.95 million contract through the end of 1969.

 

TSN Interview: Charlie Qualls TSN: Mantle put in eight good years with the Beacons, did you ever regret letting him go? CBQ: In retrospect, it looks like I got boned on that deal, and I'm pretty sure Lance never paid me the ten bucks he promised.  But if I recall, that swap was partially a salary dump which ultimately led to being able to sign Billy Pierce and finally slapping a winner on the field.  The other part was gambling on Drysdale which didn't pay off.  I sometimes wonder if I should have tried harder to keep Mantle/Maris/Mathews together just for shits & giggles, but otherwise no serious regrets.  This didn't factor into trading him, but I always felt Mantle never should have made it to the end of the first round of the initial draft anyway, so maybe it was never meant to be. TSN Interview: Glen Reed TSN: How important was Mantle to your title runs?  Could you have won five straight without him? GRR: So yeah, Granny [Hamner] is probably the defining player of the franchise, because he's an original 'Ba and bridged the two Superba versions--the no-power lineup of Ashburn, Bobby Brown, Minoso, Woodling, and Amoros--and the mashing sides of Mantle, Gentile, Mantilla, and while I had him, Kiner.  And it was Granny that robbed Mantle of the 1962 MVP--a year where Mantle led in every meaningful offensive category not named hits or average, and yet lost out to the diminutive second-sacker for the league's highest honor.  But for all that, Mantle could be said to be the best player in franchise--and league--history.  Look at the single seasons. look at the career stats. look at the records.  Look at the year-in and year-out stats.  He led the league in runs scored and walks for five straight years--Brooklyn's five title-winning years.  Ribs and dongs a bunch of times.  The awards.  And then consider that he played a premium defensive position as well and I don't see how you can look past him for the best player ever.  Nods to Banks and Mays, of course.

Knickerbocker Club of New York City began using Elysian Fields to play baseball due to the lack of suitable grounds across the Hudson River in Manhattan.  On June 19, 1846, the Knickerbockers played the New York Nine on these grounds in the first organized game between two clubs, according to Hoboken officials.