A Season in the Sun by Randy Roberts & Johnny Smith

Author:Randy Roberts & Johnny Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2018-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

By 1956 Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams was entering the last act of his playing career, but his competitive fires burned just as intensely as they had in 1941, when he hit .406. He believed that he was still the best hitter in the game and was determined to stop Mantle’s bid for the Triple Crown. Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The All-Star break couldn’t come soon enough for the Yankees. Although they had won five straight games leading into it, Billy Martin joined Mantle on the bench with a nagging hamstring injury. It was terrible timing for Martin, who had finally broken out of a slump, hitting .350 over his last eleven games. To make matters worse, Yogi Berra was nursing a sore left ankle after a foul ball caromed off him. And that wasn’t the worst of it. Berra’s batting average had plummeted seventy-six points since June 14, the worst slide of his career. Hitting .281 was certainly respectable, but he wasn’t swinging well enough to justify his $55,000 salary, the highest on the club. Yet there was good news too. A few days after hurting his leg, Mickey made an announcement: “I feel good,” he said. “I’m ready anytime.”20

Team doctors authorized him to return to the field if he played with a brace on his right knee. On July 8, the last game before the break, he started against the Washington Senators. Testing his leg in center field, he played four innings and managed a single in one of his three plate appearances. Casey Stengel, however, worried that Mickey was rushing back. The skipper wanted him to sit one more day, but Mantle wouldn’t listen. “What are you going to do?” Stengel asked a group of writers. “He is a cripple and insists on playing.”21

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