[ThomCat]

Originally Posted by wrikerjr

Oh yea Mickey Mantle won the triple crown, remember that before you compare anybody to him. Jim Rice and Mickey mantle you guys make me laugh

First of all, I was speaking strickly about numbers. There is no doubt that MM was a terrific athlete and a great hitter. But I wonder how well he would have held up to the scrutiny under which Rice and later players were placed. Although his baseball credentials are undeniable, he wasn't exactly the ideal role model ( out of respect, there is no need to expound on that). In his era there was an unwritten bond between players and the media as to what was "off the record" and very few crossed that line. He was cannonized by the NY writers of his time but in the last decades of the 1900's, the later band of NY scribes would have ate him alive, surly deminished his legend and loved doing it.

I've been around a while and seen a few innings myself including the highlight film of Teddy Ball Game's last shot to right the day it happened. Not for nuttin'...........