“Moo…”
[BANG!]
“…Mooo.”
I actually heard Mickey Mantle tell this story to Bob Costas on the the radio. Take with a shaker full of salt:
Several years ago, Billy Martin managed the Texas Rangers. The team had a great season, and Billy was voted AL manager of the year. As a gift from his players, they knew of his love of hunting, so they gave him two shotguns.In Mickey's telling, some of the details differ. The doctor, for instance, is former Yankee second baseman and President of the American League (1984-1994), Bobbie Brown, who became a cardiologist after the end of his baseball career.During the offseason, Billy got a call from his good friend from his playing days that also resided in Texas during the offseason, Mickey Mantle. Mickey suggested that they take the new guns out and do some hunting. Mickey told Billy that he had a doctor friend that had several hundred acres to hunt on. Billy agreed.
When they got to the doctors property, Mickey told Billy that he was going up to the doctors house to let him know what they were doing. Mickey went to the door and told the doctor that they would be hunting. The doctor said "fine", but asked Mickey to do him a favor. He had a mule that was on it's last legs, and he asked Mickey if he would put it out of it's misery, because he didn't have the heart to do it himself.
So on the way back, Mickey decided to play a little joke on Billy. Once he got back to Billy, he had a real pissed off look on his face. Mickey told Billy that the doctor would not allow them to hunt on his property. Mickey said that he would fix his ass, and proceeded to walk up to the mule and plug him. He then turned around, but Billy was nowhere in sight. All of a sudden, Mickey heard shots fired from the other side of a hill. When Mickey reached the top of the hill, he saw Billy shooting the doctors cattle.