Even at Age 60, He Was Worth Every Penny

Three years ago, Glenn Sheeley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was interviewing Mickey Mantle. He asked Mantle how much money he thought he would be making if he were playing at the time.

“Oh, about half a million,” Mantle said.

“What do you mean, half a million?” Sheeley responded. “Guys are getting six, seven million a year today.”

“Yeah, but I’m 60 years old,” Mantle said.

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Add Mantle: From “All My Octobers,” a book Mantle wrote with Mickey Herskowitz: “After the [1952 World Series], Jackie Robinson came into our clubhouse and shook my hand. He said, ‘You’re a hell of a ballplayer and you’ve got a great future.’ I thought that was a classy gesture, one I wasn’t capable of making. I was a bad loser.

“What meant even more was when Jackie told the press: ‘Mantle beat us. He was the difference between the two teams. They didn’t miss DiMaggio.’

“I have to admit, I became a Jackie Robinson fan on the spot.”

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Trivia time: Kent Hrbek, who wore No. 14, became the fourth Minnesota Twin in 35 years to have his number retired. Who are the three others?

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Looking back: On this day in 1948, Babe Ruth died of cancer at 53. And on this day in 1920, shortstop Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit in the head with a pitch in the fifth inning by New York’s Carl Mays. Chapman suffered a fractured skull and died the next day. He is the only major leaguer to have been killed by a pitched ball.

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A major leaguer: How’s this for a turnabout? Tim Wakefield, 14-1 for the Boston Red Sox this season, was 5-15 last year with Buffalo of the triple-A American Assn.

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All alone: Pitcher Pedro Martinez was the only Montreal Expo to catch the team bus Sunday from the hotel to Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Martinez was the first to board at 11:15 a.m. and when the driver asked what time he was supposed to leave, Martinez said 11:15.

Only one problem--the actual departure time was 11:30.

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The right reason: Byron Nelson is getting more praise 50 years later for winning 11 PGA tournaments in a row than he did in 1945. At that time, golf writers grew tired of Nelson’s steady but unspectacular game and complained that watching him was monotonous.

Nelson’s answer: “It may be monotonous, but I sure eat regular.”

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Add Nelson: In 1945, Lord Byron won 18 of 30 tournaments, finished second nine times, and was never worse than ninth. He started the year with a second-place finish, behind Sam Snead, in the Los Angeles Open.

“It didn’t matter where we were playing, we were tearing it apart,” Nelson said. “We were on a little different level than the rest of them.”

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Chalk one up: Which is most popular as a participation sport, golf, tennis or pool?

According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Assn., it’s pool, with 46 million players in the United States, compared to 28 million for golf and 18 million for tennis.

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Trivia answer: Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and Tony Oliva.

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Quotebook: Former relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry of the Kansas City Royals on playing fields: “Natural grass is a wonderful thing for little bugs and sinker-ball pitchers.”