a NYC kid
I grew up in NYC in the 1960s. If anyone dared whisper that Mantle was cheating (whether it was 1960 or 1969, with peak skills or diminished skills), there would have been a beat down worthy of West Side Story. Now, that doesn't mean he didn't "cheat." And it doesn't mean that it isn't newsworthy because he's dead and iconic. All it means is that someone out there is making an allegation. True, its an allegation about one of the most beloved and held-sacred players in the national pastime, but its an allegation. None of us were there when he supposedly did this; none of us worked with the seller of the bats in Minnesota, or the corker himself, apparently. Many of us were graced by the display of power Mantle could put on ("moon shots" often did not do those homers justice). But we also know he was an terrible alcoholic, used controlled substances like amphetamines, etc. Is there an un-flawed hero anywhere? The "science" over the lack of an advantage from corking a bat may be exact and reliable, but baseball is not "science." It is feel, it is psyche, it is intuition, it is hunch, it is timing, it is belief, it is streaks and and it is slumps. If Mantle wore a purple tutu under his pinstripes because it made him feel lucky, so what? Science can disprove the impact of purple tutus and we'd still be gawking over an auction of a Mantle game-used purple tutu, as if that was the talisman of Mantle's being. Did Mantle use a corked bat in 1956 when he won the Triple Crown? When he hit 54 home runs? When he hit his 500th? I'm not saying it doesn't matter, I'm saying that, of all the things players have done in the batters' box, on the pitchers' mound (Dock Ellis, anyone?) on the field, even off the field, it seems to me that the question of Mantle maybe, possibly corking his bat in 1962 (IIRC) is, at the very worst, a trifle. The auction is a curiosity, perhaps accurate in its description, perhaps, well, let's call it "fanciful." But to extrapolate from that listing that "Mantle cheated" is a leap I can't make, and won't make, and not because it was Mantle, although that helps me minimize what the auction suggests. Its because that form of "cheating" doesn't make enough of an impact, often enough, consistently enough, to a hitter of Mantle's caliber, consistency and power, in any event.
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