I watched an old interview of Mickey Mantle the other day on TV. He played baseball for the New York Yankees back in the 1950s and 60s. I have always liked him because he was from Oklahoma. His story fascinates me. There used to be a huge painting of him in the state capitol in Oklahoma City. I don’t know if it’s still there, but it should be as far as I’m concerned.
His life was kind of scripted for greatness. He grew up poor in small town Oklahoma and went all the way the New York City to become one of the greatest baseball players of all time. However, there is also a touch of tragedy surrounding Mickey Mantle’s life. The “what might have been,” if only he’d done this or that kind of casts a shadow on his achievements. We can only imagine and dream about that though, and wonder how much better he would have been. He even admitted it several times. Let me explain.
Mickey Mantle grew up in the small mining town of Commerce, in northeast Oklahoma. His dad worked for a local mine. Every evening after his dad got home from work they would toss a baseball in the back yard. His dad taught him baseball at an early age. He learned to switch hit at the age of four.
All of the men in Mickey Mantle’s family died young. His father and grandfather both died of cancer. Mickey believed he was kind of cursed and would likely come to a similar fate.
The only difference in Mickey and the his dad and grandfather before him was that Mickey didn’t work in the mines and therefore didn’t inhale the toxic dust like they did. His father and grandfather both worked in the mines and were exposed daily to carcinogens. The dust from the mine most likely caused their cancer, but no one ever told Mickey. This belief of dying young led Mickey to not take care of his body as well as he should have. He lived a hard and fast life while he was playing ball.
He said in the interview that after he retired he had this feeling that he should have achieved more, and could have if he would have taken care of his body better, but he really thought he would never live long enough to have to worry about it.
This is ironic on several levels. Mickey Mantle was a twenty-time all star, seven time World Series champion, three time MVP. The list is too long to continue, but you get the picture. He thought he could have accomplished more if he would have worked harder and stayed in better shape. Yet, he was inducted into the baseball hall of fame just five years after he retired. How much more could he have accomplished? Who knows, but he definitely set the bar high for himself.
As I’ve grown older I’ve wondered about the opportunities I let slip by, much the way Mickey Mantle did. I will never be inducted into a hall of fame or asked for an autograph from adoring rodeo fans, but still, I look back and ask myself what if I’d tried harder or spent more time in the gym. Basketball great Larry Bird said he was always afraid someone would practice more than him and in that crucial moment in a game be the better player. I knew about Larry Bird’s work ethic early on. In high school I got blood poisoning from tying calves so much. I went in the hospital on Sunday, got out on Thursday and won the little junior rodeo finals that weekend. I worked hard at my game too.
I suppose all men think about those things as they age. I guess my regret is getting so close I could almost make my dreams come true and then failing.
A lot of my friends were in the same boat as me, so close, yet so far away. I turn forty eight in a few weeks, it doesn’t seem that long ago to me.
I always look for that big painting of Mickey Mantle when I go with a group of people to the state capitol in Oklahoma City. I guess I see some similarities in his life and mine. The, “oh what might have been,” is always there when I look at that painting of him in the Yankee pinstripes.
A roping saddle and a baseball glove both smell the same. They also bring very similar dreams to the young men that use them.
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.
