March Pickups

[brian1961]

Regarding the black 'n white Mickey Mantle photo posted by BestDJ777 - Chris

the only other insight I have is that the original was likely shot by either Burke or Brace (I forget which one was active at the time).

Mr. Burke and George Brace worked together out of Chicago. It would seem then than one or the other snapped the photo of Mickey at Comiskey Park. It's really neither here nor there, but it would not be surprising if the photo was shot during the Yanks first visit to Chicago that year.

Something special happened during that first visit. It was May 1. Mickey was in the throes of his first slump, hitting a pallid .222, with no home runs. All that promise was becoming a problem to the team and to himself.

Sox reliever Randy Gumpert faced Mickey in the sixth with one on. Gumpert fired him a "a screwball that evidently didn't screw too much" (Gumpert's own words). Mickey was batting lefty against the righthander. Mick killed the ball, a smoking line drive that sailed over speedy centerfielder Jim Busby's head, 450 feet away. Sox pitcher Hal "Skinny" Brown recalled that Mickey's blast "was hit so hard that it got there in one second and rattled around in the seats for what seemed like five minutes."

Thus it was for home run number one in the major leagues.

I cannot buy the idea that Mickey would pay anyone to hand out pictures of himself so people would know who he was, and especially so people would vote him to the AL all-star team. Both suggestions are simply out of the question when I think of Mick's character. He was too shy, proud, and hard on himself to do either of those stupid things.

However, people were already writing to him for an autographed picture, or a picture, period. George Brace I know for certain snapped pictures for the players so they could answer their fan mail. Louis Dormand was another, but he was strictly out of New York.

Still a fabulous shot of a shy, happy rookie playing for the team of his dreams. Again, nice going. ---Brian Powell