Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1994 - Baseball Clip - Mickey Mantle Interview by Bob Costas - Highlights

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1994 - Baseball Clip - Mickey Mantle Interview by Bob Costas - Highlights · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

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  This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons
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  .com for more sports history. Mickey Mantle is
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  now 62 years old. That alone is surprising to
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  him. You see, for two generations, every male
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  member of his family died young, including his
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  father, the Oklahoma lead miner who taught Mickey
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  to switch hit at the age of four, pitching to
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  the little boy every day after returning home
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  from the mines. For years, Mantle has joked,
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  if I'd known I was going to live this long, I
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  would have taken better care of myself. The line
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  always got a laugh, but shortly after New Year's,
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  the announcement came. Mickey Mantle had checked
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  into the Betty Ford Clinic seeking treatment
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  for alcoholism. Then, just days after he returned
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  home, his son Billy died of a heart attack at
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  the age of 36. Even after Billy's death, Mickey
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  insisted that we go ahead with this interview.
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  This is a story Mickey Mantle wanted to tell.
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  1969, when I retired, I didn't feel like that
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  I had given it all I had. I felt like something
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  was missing. And by that time, I was probably
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  an alcoholic and didn't know it. The last 10
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  years, from like 1980 up to now, or up until
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  I went to Betty Ford, It got pretty bad. I mean,
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  I got so bad, people would tell me I did things,
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  you know, and I couldn't remember. I did things
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  for the last 10 years that I had no idea I was
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  doing. When you got to Betty Ford Clinic, I'm
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  told that you received more letters than anyone
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  who's ever been at Betty Ford. And when you consider
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  some of the famous names who've gone in and checked
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  out, that's kind of remarkable. I had teachers.
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  have their class little kids write me letters,
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  you know. Third and fourth graders would write
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  a letter, you know, say, Mickey, we're glad you
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  went out there, you know. And I didn't realize
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  it. I really didn't realize until I started getting
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  those letters what I did mean to some people.
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  In a way, it was really, I'm not saying that
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  I'm glad that I was drinking and had to go there.
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  But in a way, it really helped Mickey Mantle,
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  those letters and stuff. To appreciate Mickey
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  Mantle's enduring mystique, it's important to
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  understand the context of his career and the
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  era he represents. Baseball was still unquestionably
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  the national pastime. The Yankees were still
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  the best and most glamorous team in all of sports.
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  And Mickey Mantle seemed to embody the game's
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  mythology. A big, blonde kid from Oklahoma, arriving
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  in New York literally carrying a straw suitcase,
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  about to replace Joe DiMaggio in center field
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  for the mighty Bronx Bombers. Everything about
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  him was classic. The look, the swing, the ring
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  of the name itself. Such was his popularity that
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  over the years Mantle heard from hundreds of
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  fans who said they had named their sons after
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  him. The legend was enhanced by the perception
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  that Mantle was star -crossed, heroic in the
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  face of constant injuries. But there was more
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  to the story than most of us knew, and Mantle
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  acknowledges it wasn't just the injuries that
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  shortened his career and kept him from realizing
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  his full potential. Do you think you just fell
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  into the lifestyle of so many ballplayers of
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  your era? Or do you think you drank to fill some
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  space in your life? No, Bob, I'll tell you the
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  truth. I think it was just the lifestyle. You
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  know, like the ball game's over, you have two
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  or three beers at the ballpark. If we're on the
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  road, we go back to the hotel on a bus. You get
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  your group together. And there's a lot of cocktail
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  parties, you know, in the winter times at banquets
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  and stuff. It just seemed like it was just there
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  all the time for me. I don't know why. Did you
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  ever play baseball drunk? Well, I guess probably
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  I remember one time. Now, I want everybody to
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  know that I didn't do this. I don't think I ever
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  really hurt my team that much, no. One time,
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  Bobby Lane, the old... quarterback in Detroit,
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  the Detroit Lions. He was in town in Detroit
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  one time. He took me out one night, and we drank
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  way too much that night. And the next day, I
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  went up to hit, and I didn't take batting practice
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  or infield or anything. And I could have hurt
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  the team that day, but the first time up, I took
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  the first pitch right down the middle, and I
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  yelled at the umpire. And I know you remember,
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  I didn't usually argue with umpires. and I just
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  made him kick me out of the game because I had
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  no business in that game. But outside of that
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  time, I don't remember ever where I would think
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  that I hurt the team by playing. While he may
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  not have hurt the team he led to 12 World Series,
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  Mickey Mantle is convinced he hurt himself. By
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  the late 60s, the injuries, the alcohol, the
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  lack of conditioning caught up with him. He had
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  his last big year when he was just 33. He was
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  finished at 36. I don't hit the ball when I need
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  to. I can't steal second when I need to. I can't
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  go from first to third or score from second on
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  base hits. I just think it's time that I quit
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  trying. Despite three MVP awards and more than
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  500 home runs, Mantle left baseball haunted by
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  the feeling he should have been better. So you
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  told me once that when you retired in 1969, your
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  first year out of baseball, you sat there depressed.
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  thinking that regardless of the fact that you
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  had a hall of fame career that you'd screwed
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  up well i did i mean uh and and i i that's what
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  we've said before i feel like that when i retired
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  in 1969 i felt so bad about it that i really
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  believe that's the reason i now that's when i
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  started drinking for a reason i think maybe i
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  used to have that reoccurring dream that i was
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  Trying to get back into the ballpark, I could
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  hear Casey and the team out there playing, and
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  all the gates were locked, and I had to try to
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  sneak through a hole in the fence to get into
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  the ballpark. And then if I did get in, I'd hit
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  a ball that should have been a hit, and I couldn't
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  run. The outfielder would throw me out, you know.
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  There's just weird things was going on in my
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  head all the time. For the last 25 years, Mickey
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  Mantle's inner conflicts were slowly eating away
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  at him. The publicity photos often showed a proud
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  family man. Here he is with Billy in 1961. But
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  in reality, his four boys grew up without him.
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  Basically shy, he was never fully comfortable
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  making a career out of public appearances as
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  a famous retired ballplayer. Over time, the drinking
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  increased. This year, a doctor warned him his
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  liver was so bad, his neck strength might kill
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  him. With the urging of sports broadcaster Pat
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  Summerall, a longtime Mantle friend who himself
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  had been a patient at Betty Ford. Mantle checked
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  into the clinic. I can tell by the way people
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  look at me and talk to me, are you doing all
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  right? You know, they can't believe that I really
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  have stopped drinking, but I have, and I don't
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  really, I'm surprised myself that I don't really
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  even want to drink. Now, you come out of Betty
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  Ford, and everybody believes this is an important
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  crossroads in your life, and then just weeks
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  after that, your son Billy dies of a heart attack,
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  and he had had serious medical problems and involvement
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  with alcohol and drugs. Well, the way he, you
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  know, I had this long history, and a lot of people
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  thought that was the reason I drank so much was
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  because my dad and his two brothers and his dad
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  all died with Hodgkin's disease, which is inherited,
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  you know. And a lot of people thought that's
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  the reason I drank. But I don't think that really
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  ever came into play with me, to tell you the
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  truth. I got four boys, Mickey, David, and Danny.
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  All of a sudden, Billy had Hodgkin's disease.
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  And getting rid of it, he had to take chemotherapy
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  and stuff, and they gave him some Delilah, which
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  is a drug. And for some reason or other, he got
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  hooked on drugs, and he just never could get
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  over it. But he did die of a heart attack. He
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  had a heart attack, and they put a valve in his
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  heart. Just lately he had another one. This is
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  a hard one to confront. Your youngest son, Danny,
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  had been to Betty Ford. Billy had Hodgkin's disease
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  and also some drug problems, some of them illegal
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  drugs, others being hooked on prescription drugs.
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  Mostly all prescription. He'd also had troubles
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  with drinking. How much do you think the life
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  you led may have influenced your kids? Well,
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  one thing that I really do feel, I was not...
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  Not a good father, really. I mean, I was never
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  there. You know, like one of the things I learned
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  at Betty Ford's, they have programs, you know,
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  that teaches you why you're depressed and things
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  like that. And one of them was that I've always
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  felt like I wasn't there for my kids like my
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  dad was for me. I think a lot of the people who
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  are rooting for you had an immediate logical
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  concern when they read about Billy's death. Not
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  only that they felt for you. It's not a natural
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  thing for a parent to outlive a child. But also
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  that it came so soon in your recovery that maybe
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  it would prove to be an obstacle, that it would
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  be a chance to turn back. That had to have crossed
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  your mind. I'll tell you, it was pressure. A
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  lot of pressure. But... I got three more boys.
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  Tell me about how you feel about those three
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  boys now. Well, one thing I learned at Betty
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  Ford is, you know, they teach you a lot of things
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  out there. And one of the things, I had to write
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  my dad, who's been dead since 1951, I had to
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  write him a letter of things that I didn't do
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  for him. And you talk about something that's
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  hard to do. That's really hard. I need to spend
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  more time with my boys or men now, you know,
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  but I still need to get with them. Be better
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  able to express how you feel about them, maybe?
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  Yeah. I don't get close to people or something.
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  I'm weird, I guess, but I need to tell them I
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  love them. I always had the sense that there
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  was a sadness about you. I mean, we all have
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  some regret, but I always felt that there was
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  quite a bit of sadness about you. In retrospect,
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  was that true? Yeah. I think that when I did
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  drink a little too much or something, it kind
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  of relieved the tension that I felt within myself,
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  maybe, because I hadn't been what I should have
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  been. Because you hadn't been the ballplayer
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  you felt you should have been. Or the daddy.
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  In your autobiography, you went out of your way
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  to say, I'm not a role model. Did you feel uncomfortable
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  that so many people did view you as a role model?
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  Yeah, I wouldn't have wanted the kids. Like,
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  I looked up to Stan Musial and Ted Williams,
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  DiMaggio, guys like that. Those are role models.
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  I wouldn't want kids trying to be like I was
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  at the end there, no. Do you appreciate the distinction,
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  though, between a role model and a hero? You
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  may not have been a role model, but you were
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  a hero. Well, no, I don't really. I never have
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  sat down and thought about it like that, no.
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  Well, you're the guy who stood in the shadow
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  of the monuments at Yankee Stadium. You're the
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  guy who hit the ball into the upper deck. You're
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  the guy who people still have a feeling for.
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  Not people who want to buy and sell your autograph.
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  Rational people. When they hear your name and
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  they see the film clips of you playing, it moves
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  them in some way. It takes them back to a time.
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  Maybe they can't fully explain it, but you mean
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  something to them. Well, those people mean a
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  lot to me, too. Do you appreciate it more now?
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  Oh, yeah. Why? I don't know why. I guess while
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  it's going on. you don't realize that it's not
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  going to last forever, you know? All of a sudden,
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  it's over with. Are you a changed man? Oh, yes.
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  How? Well, I'm not going to drink anymore, and
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  I'm going to start trying to give back some of
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  what people have given me. And I know you feel
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  bad, at least you used to feel bad, that you
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  weren't always as gracious in return to people.
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  Oh. They wanted to love you. And sometimes they
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  got the best side of Mickey Mantle, and sometimes
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  they didn't. If I'm bad to somebody, if I'm going
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  through an airport and a little boy comes running
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  up and says, Mickey, Mickey, please sign this.
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  If I don't sign it, if I run and get on an airplane
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  and don't sign it, that whole, you talk about
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  some drinking, I mean, I'll grab a drink and
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  start drinking it thinking I should have stopped.
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  Even if I missed that plane, I should have stopped
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  and signed that little boy's autograph. But I
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  didn't. Did you ever say to yourself, wait a
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  minute, I'm one of the best ballplayers of all
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  time. I've made a significant amount of change
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  doing this. I'm financially secure. People seem
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  to love me. Why don't I feel better? Maybe I
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  do, in the back of my mind, feel like I've let
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  everybody down some way or other. I know there
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  is something in there that's not fulfilled or
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  something. I don't know what it is, Bob. I can't
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  explain it. Let's hope you've got a lot of years
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  left to continue to write chapters in your life.
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  What do you hope for? What should people think
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  in the end? I hope that people at the end will
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  say, he turned out all right. I'm proud that
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  I named my son Mickey. That would be nice.