Mickey Mantle (Photo from the Mickey Mantle Day program)

Sorry, folks, this column doesn’t have anything to do about soccer, but remembering one of my childhood sporting heroes in my early days in journalism.

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

When I have had the privilege and honor of being a guest speaker or a guest lecturer at journalism classes, especially at Queens College, I usually remind students that they should be ready to meet their heroes.

A few years into the world of media, reporters — written, radio and TV — will probably run into athletes they had admired while growing up.

It has happened to all of us, and yes, it has happened to me – in the most glorious way in the summer of ’73.

With today being the Yankees’ 74th Old-Timers Day, I figured I would share this tale with you.

As a summer intern in the Newsday sports department, I was getting all sorts of assignments.

I have said this so many times, that the summer of 1973 was the best summer ever. For the first time in my life, I got to life the life of a sportswriter. True, it was essentially a general assignment writer, doing this, that and everything else. But I loved the challenges, covering sailboat races, a shark-fishing tournament (that was two years before Jaws) and even a tennis tournament that included Dr. Richard Raskin (the future Renee Richards).

A couple of weeks before Yankees Old-Timers Day that Aug. 11, I asked sports editor Stan Isaacs – BTW, one of my sports writing heroes while I grew up on Long Island – if I could have that Saturday off. I explained to him why.

As it turned out, he didn’t give me the day off. The gears in his creative brain were turning. Why not give the kid the opportunity to cover the Old-Timers ceremony and the game? It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Newsday writer Tony Kornheiser (probably better known for his work on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption) was assigned to cover the game that day and we worked out a game plan. My job was pretty simple. One by one I interviewed the former players on what they thought about the demolition of the original Yankee Stadium. Yep, 1973 was the final year of the grand stadium. The Yankees were going to share Shea Stadium with the New York Mets for the 1974 and 1975 seasons (which is another story and mess).

I got some really good comments while meeting the heroes of my youth and talked to players who I either heard about or revered.

Ralph Terry, then a pro golfer who won 23 games and endured the agony of giving up a World Series ending home run in 1960 before redeeming himself by pitching a game of a lifetime in the seventh game of the 1962 Fall Classic (the ninth inning was a true Fall Classic).

Whitey Witt, the first Yankee to bat at the stadium in 1923.

Don Larsen, who pitched the only World Series perfect game.

Allie Reynolds, who hurled two no-hitters in a season.

Johnny Mize, a late-season addition by the Yankees back in the day, to help them to a pennant or two.

Bobby Richardson, a stalwart Yankee second baseman and a gentleman through and through.

Bill Dickey, a great catcher, who incidentally played himself in The Pride of the Yankees.

And holy cow! The incomparable Phil Rizzuto.

They were all gracious in talking to this 21-year-old kid with super long hair (yes, I did have hair once upon a time).

It seemed I spoke to just about every former Yankee but the big catch of the day — The Mick. He had retired in 1969 and like many youngsters in the tri-state area, he was my hero, an icon, even if he was toppled from his pedestal in Jim Bouton’s 1970 book, Ball Four.

Hero worship from your youth was difficult to shake, at least at that time (heck, I accepted all of his warts and imperfections).

Mantle was my first sporting hero. I won’t go into his feats, you can look it up on the internet. I saw a number of home runs by The Mick in person at Yankee Stadium and attended Mickey Mantle Day on June 8, 1969 as the Yankee faithful gave him something like an eight- or nine-minute standing ovation. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place.

The big joke among the writers was that Mantle was hiding from the media in his favorite place in the stadium — the trainers’ room.

One by one, the writers from the other papers went to the press box to file their stories before the game itself.

Because I didn’t have to write a story, I decided to stay and wait for the big guy.

It was worth the wait. Minutes before the ceremonies were about to begin, I saw this broad-shoulder person with the No. 7 on his back walking toward the clubhouse door that led to the field.

So, it was no joke. Mantle was in the trainers’ room.

I never moved so fast in my life and got in between Mantle and the door.

Here was my big moment. Would I become a fan and slobber over my childhood hero and stumbled over my questions or would I be a professional journalist?

I was the latter and asked The Mick the same questions I had queried to his former teammates.

His answer:

“I don’t like seeing them change Yankee Stadium. This has been the ballpark of ball players. Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio. It’s a shame they have to change it, but that’s modern times … and I guess they have to do it.”

I returned to the press box with my prize and told Kornheiser what I unearthed, that no one else had. He wound up writing the story but told me that I should have written it.

Truth be told, Kornheiser wrote a marvelous story that day and I know I could not have gotten close to his prose. But, looking back, it would have been nice to have gotten a shared byline or something at the bottom of the story (which many papers and websites do today, that Michael Lewis contributed to the story).

Newsday turned out to be the only paper with Mantle quotes. Kornheiser used it as his first quote in the fourth paragraph of the story.

For a 21-year-old, that was a big deal.

Hey, after all, it was The Mick.

As for the marquee game, the Oakland A’s defeated the Yankees, 7-3, with Vida Blue recording his 12th victory en route to his second 20-game winning season. I was dispatched to the Oakland A’s locker room to interview the talented left-hander Bolstered with confidence thanks to the Mantle quote, not only did I ask questions, but essentially led the interview among the other, more veteran writers (Blue looked at me a lot during the scrum interview; perhaps because I was closer to his age than the other writers, only being three years older than me).

I returned to the press box to give Kornheiser those quotes as well.

I could write a thesis on what I learned about life and journalism during those four months in the summer of 1973.

So, what did I learn about the Mantle scenario?

Sometimes life is about being lucky.

Sometimes life is about being there.

Sometimes life and journalism is about being patient, waiting and sometimes thinking just a bit out of the box. Or in this case, just a bit out of the batter’s box.

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.