Baseball Can Make Us Cry - The Mick
Final Farewell
Having paid tribute to the sad farewells of Gehrig and Ruth, it is only right to include as a final piece of a trilogy of farewells to immortal Yankees, the funeral of Mickey Mantle. The country boy from Oklahoma was the centerpiece of the New York City threesome of the 1950s - Willie, Mickey and the Duke. His good looks, shy smile and tremendous all around play on the field captured the attention and admiration of baseball fans from every corner of America. It was a sad and emotional day when he was eulogized at the Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. Mickey had succumbed to kidney failure at the age of 63. Despite a last minute liver transplant, it was not enough to overcome years of alcohol abuse. Bob Costas, the renown baseball journalist and broadcaster, gave an emotional eulogy that best describes what Mickey meant to three generations of fans.
“It occurs to me as we’re all sitting here thinking of Mickey, he’s probably somewhere getting an earful from Casey Stengel, and no doubt quite confused by now.
Mantle was “the most compelling baseball hero of our lifetime,” Costas told the overflow crowd that included acting commissioner Bud Selig, former New York Yankees teammates, the governors of three states, celebrities and ordinary fans,
“And he was our symbol of baseball at a time when the game meant something to us that perhaps it no longer does,” he said. We knew there was something poignant about Mickey Mantle long before we knew what poignant meant,” he said. “We didn’t just root for him, we felt for him.”
“He was our guy. When he was hot, we felt great. When he slumped or got hurt, we sagged a bit, too. We tried to crease our caps like him; kneel in an imaginary on-deck circle like him; run like him heads down, elbows up,” he said.
But Costas also spoke of Mantle’s courage and honesty in his attempt at overcoming his alcohol problems in his final years.
At the end of his life, Mantle suffered pain that “wracked his body and his soul,” But then, he added, “Mickey Mantle rallied. The sheer grace of that ninth inning, the humility, the sense of humor, the total absence of self-pity, the simple eloquence and honesty to tell others to take heed of his mistakes.”
“Our last memories of Mickey Mantle are as heroic as the first,” he said. “None of us, Mickey included, would want to be held accountable for every moment of our lives. But how many of us could say that our best moments were as magnificent as his?”
Mantle warned children not to follow his example, and Costas said the Yankees slugger understood the difference between a role model and a hero.
“The first, he often was not,” Costas said. “The second, he always will be.”
He also added that because of Mantle’s efforts regarding transplants, “organ donations are up dramatically across America.”
“And our last memories of Mickey Mantle are as heroic as the first”
Minister Bobby Richardson, a former Yankee second baseman and teammate, led the nationally televised service. In attendance were many former Yankee teammates and celebrities from all walks of life. Over 1000 people packed the church while others waited outside or watched a video in a connecting room. They had lined up outside the church starting in the early morning hours in hopes they could find a seat. Several slept in their car in the parking lot the night before. There was a 7-foot-tall floral representation of Mantle’s No. 7 with the tribute: “Mickey Mantle, the greatest of them all.” At the conclusion of the service, country recording artist Roy Clark sang a moving rendition of “Yesterday When I Was Young” - a song that Mantle himself loved and had requested be sung at his funeral.
As the casket was taken from the church and placed in the hearse, two young boys stood along the curb wearing Yankees shirts. One held his hat over his heart. The other held a flower. Pallbearers included former Yankees teammates Yogi Berra, Johnny Blanchard, Bill “Moose” Skowron, Whitey Ford and Bobby Murcer
"He was a dear friend, one of the most honest people I've ever met in my life," said Oklahoma City's Bobby Murcer. "Sometimes I thought he was too honest, but if you were a friend of Mickey's you were a friend for life. "
One very special fan was Donn Dodd, who played high school baseball with Mantle in Commerce, Oklahoma commented, “Mick would probably be terribly embarrassed by what happened today,” Dodd said. “He would be dumbfounded so many people cared.”
For many, Mantle represented baseball’s golden age in the 1950s and 1960s, when he led the Yankees to 12 World Series. Many people weren’t Yankee lovers, but they loved Mickey.