Fathers, Sons and Mickey Mantle

by jackmack on Sep 15, 2008 8:37 PM EDT

As Yankee Stadium enters its final days, HOFN.com's Grant Gordon remembers his first and only time in baseball's Bronx cathedral - the day that Mickey Mantle died.

The day was brilliantly hot and surreal when I walked into the cathedral known as Yankee Stadium for the first and only time in my life.

A mixed-up 16-year-old who was just beginning to party too much and flunk out of honors classes, I was in the midst of a family vacation - too cool to be away from friends for so long, too old and too selfish to enjoy spending time with my family.

Looking back, I don't remember all that much about the vacation. There are bits and pieces about the one time I'd see the hallowed halls of Cooperstown, the elegance and smut that was all New York City and the only time I sat down to see my beloved Yankees in the stadium of all stadiums - it was the 13th of August, 1995, the day Mickey Mantle died...Read more

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I was there too

I actually learned about the Mick’s death when George Will began to talk about it on one of the Sunday morning talk shows. I immediately grabbed my Yankees jersey out of the closet and raced down to the 4 train to the Stadium. I had missed seeing Mickey Mantle the year before when he was signing copies of “All my Octobers” at a bookstore near my office. I did not want to miss his memorial at Yankee Stadium.

by montanaJoeR on Sep 16, 2008 9:27 AM EDT reply actions