Memories Came Easily on the Day Mantle Died

Mickey Charles Mantle died four years ago today at 63.

And if you saw him play baseball in the 1950s and ‘60s, a little piece of you died that day too.

All those prodigious home runs, the great running catches in the outfield and the simple thrill of watching Mickey Mantle charging down the line to beat out a bunt . . . it all seemed a distant memory, and you felt much older, knowing the Mick was gone.

It was easy to remember the home runs, the 123 upper-deck homers at Yankee Stadium, the 46 multiple-homer games, the 565-footer he hit at Washington’s Griffith Park in 1953, or the 1959 ball he hit in Yankee Stadium that bounced off the 461-foot sign in deepest center field with such force that the Boston center fielder caught the rebound on the fly and held Mantle to a double.

But it was in center field where Mantle so often showed he was born to play this game.

He spoke often of the running catch in center of a drive by Gil Hodges to help save Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

In his 1991 book, “My Favorite Summer 1956,” he wrote about the catch:

“It would have been in the seats at Ebbets Field, but there was plenty of room in Yankee Stadium and I ran like hell. I just put my head down and took off as fast as I could. I caught up with the ball as it was dropping, more than 400 feet from home.

“I had to reach across my body to make the catch. If I’d started a split second later or been a step slower, it would have been at least a double. It was the best catch I ever made.”

Also on this date: In 1979, St. Louis’ Lou Brock became the 14th major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits.