Mick

In early sixties North Carolina sandlot ball

we remember no kid taking dibs on Killebrew,

Koufax,

Mays,

or even Whitey Ford.

Everybody was Mickey Charles Mantle.

Commerce's Comet liked to burn

His candle at both ends;

Slamming balls, both base and high,

On-field, then out with friends.

His pop passed on at 39,

And grandpa died the same;

That could be why he lived so hard-

Scant time to make his name.

A dirt-poor Okie, Mantle

Graced the Baxter Springs Whiz Kids;

Tom Greenwade looked and signed him up,

Pre-empting other bids.

Mickey rolled through Independence;

Joplin in '50,

Taking hacks with talent

Eighty-nine blind men could see.

In '51 Mick made the Yanks

And had his rookie woes-

By '52 he was the goods,

In shoes that once were Joe's.

In '56 came Triple Crown

And AL MVP,

MVP the next year too,

Though Ted screamed robbery.

In '61, the M&M boys

Dueled chasing sixty;

With one-fifteen between them,

They put pitchers in a fixty:

Does Mick go yard,

Or does Maris shoot one with his loaded gun?

If you're gonna die would you rather hang,

Or ingest rat poison?

Mantle was finished after '64

But it wasn't all downhill;

Hearing his 500th off McNally-

WHAT A MAJOR THRILL!

Then there was a Game of the Week

Near the end of his career,

With legs taped up, hitting .229,

In a very dismal year;

All Mick did was go 4 for 4

With a very nifty BUNT!

That was the day he should've taken

Himself out of the hunt.

It was the one big game I saw Mantle have.

It helps to explain

Why childhood flashbacks occur

At a green and white rectangular sign

Not too far from Muskogee:

SPAVINAW 31

Dan Taylor

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