Mickey Mantle Research Paper

Zachary Mirza
Mrs. Scherer
English 227
10 December 2015
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle, also known as “The Mick”, was a very successful baseball player. Some of his greatest accomplishments include: four home run championship titles, a Triple Crown batting average award, and three Most-Valuable-Player (MVP) awards. However, Mickey Mantle’s humble beginnings and influential family lead him to a successful career in baseball .
Mickey Mantle was born on October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw, Oklahoma to Lovell and Elven “Mutt” Mantle. Mutt was a famous baseball player himself. Mutt named Mickey after one of his good friends Mickey Cochrane, a catcher for the Detroit Tigers. Mickey was barely out of diapers before he was playing baseball; courtesy of Grandpa

Mickey still pursuing his dream, joined a local baseball club called The Whiz Kidz. In his first game with the Whiz Kidz Mickey hit 3 homeruns.To show his gratitude a fan started a collection for Mickey and his outstanding performance. Mickey accepted all $53, and was ecstatic it was the most money he’d ever seen. Unfortunately, the school also heard about his performance and about how he accepted the money, so the school said he couldn’t continue to play high school sports if he didn’t return the money. Mickey gave the money back, so he could continue playing high school. A good thing too because during his senior year he was noticed. Mickey was offered a scholarship to play football, but Mickey denied it for two reasons. One he didn’t want to go back to school, and two he also wanted to live his dream as a Major League Baseball player. Instead Mickey continued to develop his talent as a player by playing for the Whiz

Mickey was blest by not getting the family curse, Hodgkin 's Disease. However, in 1977 Mickey 's son Billy was diagnosed with Hodgkin 's Disease. With constant treatment Billy lived until 1994, but sadly died at age 36. Everything in Mickey’s life was now taking a toll on Mickey. In 1995 Mickey was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. Mickey received a liver transplant hoping it would help. However, the new liver died soon after. Mickey’s Final wishes were that people would not look up to him because he thought he was a bad role model. He also wished that more people would be organ donors because even though it didn’t work for him it could heal someone else. “To all my little teammates out there. Please don’t do drugs and alcohol. God only gave us one body. Take care of it. If you want to do something great be an organ donor.”-Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle died on August