Mickey Mantle Interview by Bob Costas

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

Channel: Randall Swearingen

Views: 474,851

Rating: 4.9298568 out of 5

Keywords: Mickey Mantle, Bob Costas, Betty Ford Clinic

Id: Hm_Ybn4JMxM

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 18 2011