Mantle Applauds Ueberroth’s Edict on Clubhouses

Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle says Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth made the right move in closing the game’s clubhouses to all but essential personnel.

“I think that’s great,” Mantle said Friday. “I’ll tell you the truth, I got to where I hated to even go to oldtimers games once a year because you can’t hardly get in the clubhouse.

“I told Whitey Ford one time, we should go out and dress in the stands and let them have the clubhouse because it looked like everybody who should have been in the stands was in our clubhouse. It takes away from the players’ minds. I think it’s the best thing that’s happened to the players, to keep everybody out of the clubhouse.”

Ueberroth on Thursday issued a directive, effective immediately, ordering that only players, managers, coaches, representatives of the Players Association, umpires and their union representatives, trainers, team physicians, club and league officials, accredited members of the media and “those persons necessary for the normal conduct of club operations” be allowed in clubhouses, on playing fields, in dugouts and related facilities and areas off-limits to all but essential personnel.

The commissioner said those areas will be closed to “friends, business associates, agents, attorneys, equipment salesmen or other vendors, unauthorized doctors or therapists, etc.”

Mantle, who now is a part-time broadcaster with his former club, the New York Yankees, was in New York to promote his new videotape, “Mickey Mantle’s Baseball Tips for Kids of All Ages.”