Friday, June 16, 2006

When it was a game


Mickey Mantle transcended baseball. At least this is what we've heard from Billy Crystal - the Mick was a little ahead of our time. He was the All-American boy, and he knew it. For the Mick, with this great power came great responsibilty. He played through injuries year after year, but as it turns out, this "play through the pain" attitude was carried through off the diamond as well.

We're proud to present the following back-and-forth documents sent between Mantle and Yankees reps in 1973. In this age of juiced statistics and multi-million dollar contracts, these documents serve as reminders of all that is truly decent and honest about the great american pasttime. His attention to details (right down to remembering the inning) prove tat the All-American Boy had a mind like a steel trap. Long live the Mick. (Click on the photos for full-sized images, but be aware that the Mick's language is a little blue.)

12 comments:

Rays profile said...

Looks like it's not just the Yankees who suck.

Anonymous said...

Guys:

Is there any way to confirm whether or not this is real?

TC said...

Call it what you will. There's no disputing that the document and signature were in fact written and signed by Mantle. That is fact and we stand by it. If there's any evidence to the contrary, I would love to hear it.

Anonymous said...

While it's funny stuff, I happen to have quite a few authentic sigs of the Mick and that sig on that doucument, although pretty good, is not the Mick's.

While the "M's" are a good indicator that the document signature isn't real, the kicker is the "t" in Mantle...never in all his authentic sigs does the "t" touch another letter as in the fake document.

Anonymous said...

this is funny for so many reasons.

Larry Mahnken said...

While it's funny stuff, I happen to have quite a few authentic sigs of the Mick and that sig on that doucument, although pretty good, is not the Mick's.

While the "M's" are a good indicator that the document signature isn't real, the kicker is the "t" in Mantle...never in all his authentic sigs does the "t" touch another letter as in the fake document.


They do in this authentic signature:

http://www.fadedgiant.net/assets/images/mantle_mickey_signature_2.jpg

spycake said...

Maybe Mantle had a surrogate fill out the form and sign it, much like he used the clubhouse guys to autograph baseballs for him in his hey-day.

Then the question becomes, is this authentic Mantle dictation?

Anonymous said...

It appears to be really funny, although I am not surprised, whether or not it's true, however, after watching the movie "61" it wouldn't surprise me.

Anonymous said...

I, for one, am shocked. I have always been a sort-of Mantle fan, but if this is true, I'm going to have to re-evaluate that.

(If this is true, I'm going to be a HUGE Mantle fan.)

Anonymous said...

Then of course there's always ARod.

Anonymous said...

Looks real to me. There are plenty of stories about Mantle being downright ribald when he felt like it. This was obviously one of those times.

Anonymous said...

I would question the handwriting. While I have no clue if the signature is authentic, one can see that the print letters of "The All American Boy" does not match the print letters in the handwritten sentences above. Look below the signature at the way the lower case "a" is in "American" versus the lower case "a" in the word "ask". They aren't remotely close.

I call bullshit..