I was sitting in my office in Houston the day they announced The Mick had died. I was crying when the Marshal walked in - he asked what was wrong, had something happened to my parents and I said no, that Mickey Mantle had just died. He asked why I was crying and I told him that I grew up thinking that I would be Mrs Mickey Mantle when I grew up - he just shook his head and left my office - I’m sure he thought I was a few beers short of a six pack.....
Hey, I cried, too, and I never considered being Mrs. anything. He was an Okie, did his State proud. I wish they would reclaim the former Mrs. Warren. (Now married to Bruce Mann, she divorced Jim Warren in 1978.)
If you had read Mrs. Mantle’s bio, you might think differently.
Mantle’s father and uncle both died in their 40s and Mantle was convinced he would die young too. So he drank to excess, cheated on his wife, caroused and lived something of a rock-star lifestyle before people came to know what that was. Mantle’s thinking was that he was going to die soon anyway so he might as well live for today.
“People call me a role model,” Mantle said when his cancer was discovered. “And I guess I am in a way. Don’t be like me.”
In later years, Mantle also said he had a dream of dying and meeting St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. “Mickey,” said St. Peter, “with all the things you’ve done, I’m afraid we can’t let you into Heaven. But since you’re here, would you mind autographing a few dozen balls for us?”
I think many of his idolized Mickey because of his heroic feats on the diamond and his aw-shucks honesty off of it. But the media protected athletes back in those days the way they protect Obama today. Had everyone known the truth then, Mantle might not have enjoyed the reputation he had.