John's Journal: Remembering Willie, Mickey And The Duke

A song was released in 1981 that was very popular with my generation. The song, by Terry Cashman, was “(Talkin’ Baseball) Willie, Mickey and the Duke.” (Here’s a YouTube link to the video: https://shorturl.at/LRHGL )

Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were two of my childhood heroes. Mays was 93 years old when he died on Tuesday. I was watching a game between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees on TV, with Bob Costas handling play-by-play. Costas broke the news of Mays’ death during the telecast, and I had to take some time to gather myself. I’m surprised at the emotions that struck me at that moment.

I think I know the reasons behind those emotions. I’m 65 years old and Willie Mays was a pillar of my youth.

Mays made his major league debut in 1951 and played until 1973, retiring when he was 42 years old and I was 14. Mantle played in the big leagues from 1951 – making his debut about a month after Mays – and retired in 1968; I was nine years old. Mickey was 63 when he died in 1995.

I don’t know how many sports books were available at my little hometown library in Graettinger, Iowa, but I do know that I read every one of them, some of them more than once, and my favorites were about great baseball players.

One of them was Duke Snider, who played his last game in 1964. I was very young and have no memory of watching him play. In those days, there was one nationally televised Saturday afternoon baseball game and after that, fans depended on radio.

I spent many hours listening to Herb Carneal call Twins games when I was a kid growing up in northern Iowa. Years later, when I was covering the Twins for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I was chatting with Herb before a game when I said, “Herb, you were a big part of my early life.” He smiled and said, as he probably said 100 times, “If I had a nickel for every person who told me that I’d be a rich man.”

Herb was 83 when he left us in 2007. It was such a joy to spend time with Herb at the Metrodome. I never saw Mays or Mantle play baseball in person, for a couple reasons. Willie played for the San Francisco Giants, a National League team, and the only major league park I visited as a kid was Metropolitan Stadium, the Twins’ original home in Bloomington (the Mall of America now sits on the ballpark site). I never saw Mantle and the New York Yankees play there because opportunities to make the trip to Bloomington were rare.

But I did see Mickey Mantle in person at Metropolitan Stadium, and it’s a scene that remains fresh in my mind. One Saturday every summer, the grain elevator company in my village of 800 souls sponsored a charter bus to a Twins afternoon game. This was a big deal for a baseball-crazed kid.

In the summer of 1969, my brother Tim and I begged our parents to let us ride the bus to the game. Kids needed a grownup to keep an eye on them, and our grandpa, a kindly farmer, agreed to go on the trip. I was 10 years old and Tim was 13.

The bus left early in the morning. The first stop was at Happy Chef in Mankato for breakfast. About 90 minutes later, the bus stopped at a restaurant in Bloomington for lunch. I wasn’t all that excited about these stops because I wanted to get to the ballpark … this was my first major league baseball game. Our grandpa spent the bus ride chatting with friends and enjoying a day free of farm chores. I’m sure he kept an eye on us but he wasn’t overbearing about it. I can still smell the King Edward cigars that he smoked ... and sometimes just held in his mouth, unlit. My grandpa's old cigar boxes became dandy places to store our baseball cards.

Our mom had agreed to let us take her fancy camera with us. She had loaded it with film and made us promise that we would take good care of it. Don’t worry, Mom.

Finally, the bus arrived at The Met and we walked into the ballpark. Our seats were very good, behind home plate and about halfway up the bowl. For a little kid like me, this was the thrill of a lifetime.

We were in our seats in time to watch batting practice and the other usual pregame activities. And then something quite special happened.

A buzz rippled through the crowd. Arms were raised and index fingers pointed toward the field, behind home plate. Voice after voice rang out: “That’s Mickey! Hey, there’s Mickey!”

Mantle, who had retired after the previous season, was now working as a TV analyst and this game was the Saturday game of the week. (I think the Twins’ opponent was the Baltimore Orioles but don’t quote me on that.) Mickey was wearing a network blazer and tie.

My brother and I saw Mickey Mantle walking across the field, from one dugout to the other. We could not believe our eyes. MICKEY MANTLE! George Washington and Jesus Christ could have been striding across the ballfield together and it wouldn’t have been any bigger than seeing Mickey Mantle in the flesh.

We didn’t get any photos of Mickey, but we managed to shoot a few frames before focusing on the game and the players we recognized from watching ballgames on TV, as well as frosty malts and other assorted concession treats. It was pure magic.

We probably fell asleep on the ride home. As we told our parents about the great day we had – “We saw Mickey Mantle!” – my mom asked a simple question. “Where’s the camera?”

Uh oh. The camera. I didn’t have it. My brother didn’t have it. Oh no, we didn’t have it. But we did have our ticket stubs. I remembered that at some point we had put the camera under our seats. It was a safe guess that it was sitting right there when we left the ballpark.

I don’t know if mom phoned the Twins or wrote a letter. Whatever she did, it worked. Knowing the seat numbers was key. With that information, the Twins staff put the camera in the mail and it arrived a few days later.

Over the 55 years since that day, I’ve told several people about seeing Mickey Mantle in person. I smile every time I tell the story, and I’m smiling right now as I think about it.

Thank you Mickey. Thank you Willie. We’ll never forget you.

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]