In Baseball lore few players have such a magical mystic as the great New York Yankee, Mickey Mantle. Mantle played in the 1950’s and 1960’s and is considered the greatest switch hitter to have ever played the game. Just the mention of his name generates awe from his vast legion of admirers even today, some 25 years after his death in 1995.
His statistics were indeed impressive. Mickey retired with a 536 home runs, 1,509 RBIs, and a career batting average of .298. He won seven world championships and won the MVP award three times. But behind the statistics this Hall of Famer battled chronic and painful injuries for most of his 18-year career; all spent with the New York Yankees.
Far from being a role model, Mantle played hard and partied even harder because the Mick lived with the haunting knowledge and fear that his father, grandfather, and two of his uncles all died from Hodgkin’s Disease on or before their 40th birthdays. Mickey was convinced that an early grave probably would be his fate too, and as a result he tried to live life as fast as he could. Sadly, that led him to a 40-year bout with alcohol. In 1994, Mickey checked himself in to the Betty Ford Center and finally was able to win his battle with alcohol. Unfortunately, by the next year cancer had destroyed Mantle’s liver. His destructive lifestyle and alcohol had taught Mantle the hard lesson that a man reaps what he sows.
As the cancer spread, death became more of a reality to Mickey. Mantle, sensing that something was missing in his life, decided to call an old Yankee teammate, Bobby Richardson, and asked Bobby to pray for him over the telephone. Richardson was a committed Christian and that prayer, as well as years of witnessing to the Mick about Jesus, apparently had finally opened Mickey’s heart and he told Richardson, when he visited him in the hospital, shortly after that phone call, that he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.
Shortly before his death in August 1995, Mickey Mantle spoke to an adoring public and told everyone, as humbly as he could, that he was no role model and not to repeat the same mistakes he had made. Faced with the knowledge that he had sinned against a holy God, Mantle, finally realized that he needed Christ to forgive him of his lifetime of sinning. And praise God, when Mickey finally cried out to God for forgiveness, Christ came into his heart, and sealed the deal – Mickey was now, soon to head, non-stop to eternity with Christ.