A gift for the Mick
Mickey Mantle rounding third base 57 years ago today after hitting career homer No. 535
Detroit’s Denny McLain wins his 31st game of the 1968 season 57 years ago today, beating the New York Yankees 6-2 at Tiger Stadium.
That historic win – no pitcher wins as many games since then – quickly becomes a secondary storyline to the game within the game.
With little doubt as to the outcome, McLain decides to have a little fun in the eighth inning.
As the story goes, McLain has his catcher, Jim Price, tell the once-great, but now-fading Mickey Mantle that he plans to throw him nothing but straight, BP-slow fastballs.
Seems McLain – sensing Mantle is in the final season of a Hall of Fame career – wants to give Mantle a nice parting gift before a Thursday afternoon crowd of 9,063 in Detroit.
Initially, Mantle does not believe what Price is telling him, only to have McLain verbally reinforce his commitment to throw nothing but hit-me-hard fastballs.
McLain wants and hopes Mantle hits one of those meatballs out of the ballpark.
Finally believing after two pitches that McLain indeed is sincere in his gift-giving, Mantle proceeds to deposit McLain’s 0-2 fastball, such as it is, into the right-field stands.
The homer is Mantle’s 535th for his career, moving him past Jimmie Foxx and into third place behind only Babe Ruth and Willie Mays on the all-time list.
McLain eventually gets to be involved in another parting gift, well sort of, just a few years later.
Exactly one week shy of the fourth anniversary of his gift homer to Mantle in 1968, McLain – by then mightily struggling with the Braves – faces the final three batters of his meteoric career in the majors as he works the top of the ninth inning of a 4-4 game against the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 12, 1972 in Atlanta.
There, McLain promptly allows a leadoff homer to Cesar Geronimo, a single to pinch-hitter Joe Hague and another single to Pete Rose – the 7,719th and final batter McLain faces in his major league career.
Oh, yeah, McLain loses that final game to the Reds with the final score eventually reaching 7-5 before a Tuesday night crowd of 4,050 at Fulton County Stadium.
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