Mickey Mantle says goodbye

Mickey Mantle in 1968

After a 1968 season in which he hits just .237, the great Mickey Mantle – by then physically shot at a really old 37 – retires 55 years ago today.

Among the regrets he has in life – alcoholism being one of them – Mantle rues not ending his career as a .300 hitter.

That .237 batting average for the Yankees in 1968 drops his lifetime average from .302 to .298.

The rest of the resume, of course, is stellar as the Hall of Fame-bound Mantle over 18 seasons totals 536 career homers, 1,509 runs batted in, one Triple Crown season and three MVP awards.

And, oh, those seven World Series rings look good, too.

“But God darn,” Mantle later says, “to think you’re a .300 hitter and end up at .237 in your last season, then find yourself looking at a lifetime .298 average … it made me want to cry.”

Others see Mantle for what he is as a player: a talent like none other during his time in the major leagues from 1951-68 and a survivor of so many knee surgeries that would force lesser players into early retirements.

In all, Mantle endures five knee surgeries, starting after his rookie season in 1951 and all before less-invasive arthroscopic procedures become commonplace.

“Hitting the ball was easy,” Mantle says. “Running around the bases was the tough part.”

Mantle’s other injuries include fractures to his left foot and right index finger, a hip abscess, shin splints, deep bruises of his right shoulder and countless muscle pulls in his legs.

“On two legs,” says Chicago White Sox Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox, “Mickey Mantle would have been the greatest ballplayer who ever lived.”