Mickey Mantle was one of the greatest baseball players of all time but his career and relationships were hindered by his addiction to alcohol.
God gave me everything and I blew it. For the kids out there, don't be like me.
This is a quote from the late, great Mickey Mantle. Mick is one of the best baseball players to ever pick up a bat. He was the first switch hitter to hit 500 homeruns, he held the record for most World Series homers, and he even hit for the prestigious Triple Crown in 1956.
Mantle was many different things in life. He was a hero, an idol; he was one of the most modest men that you could ever know. The one thing that he was not was a good role-model.
Mickey did not mean to be a bad example. Many kids looked up to number 7, and he loved every one of his fans. He used to spend his free time looking through scrapbooks that his fans had made of him. The Mick was a great man, but like everyone else, he had his demons. Mickey Mantle was addicted to alcohol.
Mantle shouldn't be given all the blame for his adult mistakes. His childhood was a very troubled one. He had a history of being sexually abused by his step-sister and others from the neighborhood. Mantle went through many hardships in life, including osteomyelitis, a crippling disease that could have taken his life, and the loss of many loved ones. Alcohol was a way for Mantle to numb his pain, and there is no doubt that he had a lot of pain to deal with.
The first person that Mantle lost was his father, Mutt. He was Mickey's biggest influence and motivation. He loved his father more than any other person on Earth. Mutt died from Hodgkin's disease in 1952, Mantle's second year in the majors. It must have killed him that his father couldn't watch him play. Just like his father, Mickey became an alcoholic.
Mantle's alcoholism didn't just overtake his own life; it affected the lives of his wife and kids, as well. They all became alcoholics. Merlyn, his wife, left him in 1980 after all hope for their marriage had vanished. The alcohol destroyed his relationship with his four kids, Mickey Jr, David, Billy, and Danny. Billy Mantle died of heart failure after a battle with Hodgkin's disease on March 12, 1994, the same disease that killed Mutt.
The loss of Billy hit Mickey hard, but this time he did not turn to alcohol. He was finally sober after years of losing to his demons.
He checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic in January 1994 with encouragement from his wife and sons who had all gotten help and got over their own addictions.
It is astonishing to think of the numbers that this ball player could have put up if he played his career healthy sober. When he talks of the greatest players of his time, he mentions Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, and Stan Musial, among others. He says they treated their body the right way, and they are the ones who should be admired.
He made amends with his life before he died. He repaired his relationship with his wife and kids, he found God, and he became sober. He received a liver transplant in June of 1995, but it was too late. He died a few months later with his wife, Merlyn, by his side. Mickey Mantle said it himself; he is a great example of how you should not live your life. He may not have lived as a role-model, but after 18 months of sobriety, Mickey Mantle died as a role-model.
Sources:
Jane Leavy, The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood, HarperCollins, 2010
Mickey Mantle and Herb Gluck, The Mick, Jove, 1986
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