Did he? Last time I saw him on TV he was shilling for a Liquor by the drink law in Oklahoma.
He said If Oklahoma passes this law he might return to his home state more often. He lived in some other state. The was known here as an alcoholic.
I am too young to have experienced the icon that was Mickey Mantle, but I do know it was a time where there was less diversity in experience. Less TV channels, less news channels, and less people looking for anything wrong with a hero.
I don’t like it when the living blame the dead on why they died. “This person smoked too much, or drank too much, or slept around too much.” Just let them be. If you loved them, love them unconditionally. Don’t point your finger and say “see” that’s how NOT to live. Bullcrap.
He lived to be 64. That’s not a bad life. If he would have lived a clean life he could have lived to be 75 or 80, but would he have been the same Mick? Probably not. And I feel the same way about many of my loved ones I’ve lost.