MESSAGE #1189 GEORGE STEINBRENNER’S FAVORITE QUOTE
The following was George Steinbrenner’s favorite quote:
“I am wounded but I am not slain. I shall lay me down and rest a while and then I will rise and fight again.”
MESSAGE #1185 WISDOM FROM SPARKY LYLE
“When you start thinking is when you get your ass beat.”
-SPARKY LYLE
MESSAGE #1184 THE MICK
Happy Birthday to the best switch-hitter of all time, Mickey Charles Mantle of the New York Yankees.
The Mick was the most popular player of his generation. He hit tape-measure home runs.
He ran from home to first in 3.1 seconds.
He made spectacular catches in centerfield.
And he played basically on one leg.
In his first season in the big leagues, Mantle got his spikes stuck in a drain in the outfield, trying to avoid the great Joe DiMaggio, in his final season. Mickey would never be the same. It was the beginning of a career filled with injuries.
Last week, I was at the Yogi Berra Museum and Jane Leavy was doing a talk and book signing on “The Last Boy, Mickey Mantle.” She once asked Mickey when the last time he played without pain was.
Mickey said, “When I was 18.”
He basically played his entire career injured.
And I know what you might be thinking, “Mickey was a great ballplayer, but he was an alcoholic.”
What most people don’t know is that Mickey was sexually abused as a child.
He thought he was going to die young, like the rest of the men in his family (he was the only one who lived past age 45).
So he lived every day like it was his last.
Nobody knows what he was going through.
One of my favorite photos is of a home run that Mickey hit 18 inches shy of clearing Yankee Stadium. It was 118 feet above field level and was said to have been still rising.
His home runs were legendary.
But so was his courage.
At the end of his life, he became sober. He wanted others to learn from his mistakes. He was helping others. They say he left this world in peace.
That may have been his greatest accomplishment.
A true role model.
None of us are perfect, I know I’m not.
So as I think about Mickey Charles Mantle on this day, I think of one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game, but I also think of one of the bravest and most honest people, as well.
I never met Mickey, but I have done my share of research on him.
One thing is for sure, he had courage; on and off the field.
MESSAGE #1174 HOW TO BE A QUITTER
“Competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves just that much harder. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up.”
-NANCY LOPEZ
MESSAGE #1172 A PERFECT DAY
Fifty-four years ago today, Don Larsen threw the first and only perfect game in World Series history.
Larsen didn’t even know he was going to start the game until he arrived at the ballpark.
Yankees manager, Frank Crosetti put a baseball in Larsen’s shoe, which meant that he was pitching.
Larsen gulped and said to himself, “Don’t mess this up.”
He was nervous, but he went out there and pitched the game of his life, 27 up, 27 down, to catcher Yogi Berra.
During his career, Larsen was only about average, but on this day in 1956, he was perfect.
Larsen says, “If you work hard enough, I believe everybody’s entitled to one good day.”
Work hard everybody.
MESSAGE #1167 TEAMWORK AND INTELLIGENCE
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
-MICHAEL JORDAN