Double Dating with Mickey Mantle: Regret, a Boast, Billy Martin and Alcohol

The following is a brief excerpt from a new book, Double Dating With Mickey Mantle by Tom Molito with Harold Friend. Tom was one of Mickey's best friends and helped him write his farewell speech in 1995.

Mickey really wasn’t too concerned about statistics. I mentioned earlier how he thought that he hit .357 in 1957 and that I reluctantly said that he batted .365. He often said that he really regretted not batting .300 lifetime.

He once told me, “When I was not injured, I was better then them all!”

One evening when Mickey, Greer (Johnson, Mickey's business partner), Kathleen (Tom's wife) and I were at his restaurant, he talked about Billy Martin. 

Mickey was much more perceptive than most baseball writers realized. Billy was a tough kid from Oakland and to many, it seemed that he and Mickey were too different to be so close, but that evening Mickey explained it completely. 

“Billy never had the natural talent that Whitey and I had, but he wanted to win more than anything in the world, maybe even more than me and Whitey.” 

Mickey continued and said something that I never realized. 

“Tom, the only year we didn’t win the pennant was when Billy was in the army.”

I thought about it and remembered that Billy had joined the Yankees in 1950 and spent the entire 1954 season in the army.  The Yankees won the pennant in 1955 and 1956, and then Billy was banished to Kansas City after the Copacobana incident.

The conversation turned to Mickey's father, which was a topic that he was usually reluctant to discuss, but for some reason, he opened up—just a little.

“My father was almost always quiet, but he could freeze you with a look. He smoked too much, but he figured that working in the mines all day was more harmful than smoking cigarettes. I sure didn’t inherit my drinking from him.

"All he ever did was bring home a half-pint on Saturday and nurse it along the rest of the week.  He would have whipped me if he ever caught me drinking. That’s kind of funny, isn’t it?”

I just smiled in an embarrassed way, but I can’t help but think how scientists have shown that alcoholism is sometimes inherited. That was not true in Mickey’s case, and the general issue is not yet resolved.

Yes, alcoholism often is a family affair, but do youngsters emulate their parents, or is alcoholism a parental trait that can be inherited? 

Regardless, I felt privileged just to be there with Mickey as he spoke. Mutt sounded like a Steinbeck character out of The Grapes of Wrath. His death at 39 was still an open wound for Mickey.

I saw a side of Mickey that night that talked of farming, zinc mining and the hardships of digging a living out of the harsh Oklahoma land. He discussed his father’s family values and work ethic, telling me that his father was a good man who expressed himself through his actions, not by his words. 

Mark Twain type insights appealed to Mickey. I think they reminded him of his roots and particularly of his father. 

I often wonder what thoughts must have raced through Mutt’s mind as he observed Mickey’s power and speed as a young teenager. Probably that his son would accomplish what he didn’t.