The Yankees, Aaron Judge and the fate of Major League Baseball

Baseball, On the Rocks

Next came the Mick in the early fifties and he, too, came in after an American victory. Only now the country had subdued a world at war, and fortunately this time the booze was legal.

Doctors at the time went on TV and told people smoking was good for them; the fifties in NY was all one fabulous party at Toots Shor’s.

The Yankees were by then ingrained in the culture of the country. Even Frank Sinatra’s famous epithet, Chairman of the Board, was originally given to Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford. Ol’ Blue Eyes might have done things his way, but his title was a hand me down.

The Yankees played at the cultural center of the country, as well as the center of the baseball world. And the bullseye at the center of that world was Mickey Mantle.

Out of the Shadows

Once again, in light of everything Americans had accomplished in WWII, it made perfect sense to fans and players that a blond-haired, blue-eyed kid from Oklahoma could just walk out of the coal mines and be baseball’s best player. And hit the longest home runs since Ruth… perhaps longer.

He drank, smoke, fought, and cheated on his wife, along with some of his teammates. Before there were Mad Men in the ’60s, there were Belligerent Bombers in the ’50s.

But the public didn’t care about those things then and so Mantle was a hero; once again, the right Yankees hero at the right Yankees time.

Relatively short of stature but with every inch filled with prodigious power and five plus-plus tools, The Mick is still spoken of in hushed whispers by those fortunate enough to see him in his prime.