M*A*S*H for The Mick

Joe DiMaggio, left, approaches the fallen Mickey Mantle

Mickey Mantle suffers the first of his seemingly endless string of injuries 74 years ago today during Game 2 of the 1951 World Series.

Mantle, then a rookie playing right field for the Yankees, has his spikes catch in the covering of a drainage pipe while chasing a fly ball to right-center during the fifth inning of 3-1 victory over the New York Giants before a Friday afternoon crowd of 66,018 in the Bronx.

While Mantle is falling to the turf, center fielder Joe DiMaggio catches the ball hit off the bat of Giants rookie phenom Willie Mays.

Mantle misses the rest of the Series with a right knee injury that requires surgery.

Mickey Mantle with manager Casey Stengel

Mantle subsequently plays with pain for the rest of an 18-year Hall of Fame career that ends after the 1968 season.

The knee injury from 74 years ago today starts a list of career injuries that for Mantle include another knee surgery a year after the first one; fractures to his fingers and feet; an abscess to his right hip, a shoulder injury and countless muscle pulls and sprains.

Despite all of this, Mantle puts together a career in which he hits 536 home runs – third on the all-time list at the time of his retirement – with 1,509 runs batted in, 20 All-Star selections, three American League Most Valuable Player awards and seven World Series rings.

Watching all of this in awe is Casey Stengel, Mantle’s manager with the Yankees from his first season in 1951 through the 1960 World Series.

“He is,” Stengel says of Mantle, “the best one-legged player I ever saw play the game.”

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