The Mick’s last hit

The 2,415th and final hit of Mickey Mantle’s glorious career comes 56 years ago today at Yankee Stadium.

Batting third and playing first base, Mantle singles to center with two outs in the bottom of the first inning off Cleveland starter Luis Tiant.

Mantle’s hit turns out to be the only one of the game for the Yankees as Tiant holds New York to just two more walks – one to Mantle – in beating New York 3-0 for his 21st victory of the 1968 season.

Tiant also strikes out 11, including two by Mantle.

A crowd of just 5,723 turns out on a Wednesday afternoon to see Mantle’s final game at Yankee Stadium.

The fifth-place Yankees finish the 1968 season at Boston, where the 36-year-old Mantle goes hitless in the final four at-bats of his Hall of Fame career.

Mantle retires the following spring, just weeks before what would have been his 19th season with the Yankees.