Mantle ‘Quite Cheerful’ After Taking a Walk

Mickey Mantle did something Sunday he hadn’t been able to do in more than a week: He took a walk.

As a prescribed part of his recovery from liver transplant surgery last Thursday, the 63-year-old baseball Hall of Famer got out of bed and walked to a chair.

Mantle’s first steps with his new liver came a day after he was transferred out of intensive care to a private room at Baylor University Medical Center.

Dr. Goran Klintmalm, medical director of the Baylor Transplantation Institute, said Sunday that Mantle’s mood after his walk was “quite cheerful. He really has a good attitude.”

Klintmalm said increasing Mantle’s mobility was the next goal, adding: “He’ll keep walking more frequently. First, it’s around his room, but he could be walking into the hallway today or tomorrow.”

The next phase of Mantle’s recovery is fighting off attempts by his body to reject the new organ. Klintmalm said Mantle runs a “60-65% risk” of having it happen.

But the surgeon said that only 1.7% of liver-transplant patients require immediate retransplantation.