Mickey Mantle was one of the greatest and most beloved players in the history of baseball, the powerful switch-hitting center fielder who was the face of the dominant New York Yankees of the 1950s and early 1960s. Born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, the son of a miner who groomed him for the game, he reached the major leagues as a teenager in 1951.
Blessed with breathtaking speed and prodigious power from both sides of the plate, Mantle became the successor to Joe DiMaggio in center field and the cornerstone of a Yankees dynasty that reached the World Series almost every year of his prime. In 1956 he won the Triple Crown — leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in — and he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player three times.
His tape-measure home runs became legendary, and in 1961 he and teammate Roger Maris staged a celebrated chase of Babe Ruth's single-season home-run record. Mantle hit 536 career home runs and a record 18 in World Series play, all while playing on chronically injured, heavily bandaged knees.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Mantle's later life was shadowed by the alcoholism he candidly acknowledged, and in his final months he movingly warned young fans not to follow his example. He died of cancer in 1995, mourned as an American icon.