Editing Mickey Mantle (section)

====Rookie season: 1951====
[[File:Mickey Mantle 1951.jpg|thumb|left|Mantle as a 19-year-old rookie in 1951|alt="Black and white profile photograph of a young, clean-shaven, smiling man in New York Yankees pinstripes and cap, looking slightly to his right."]]

Mantle was invited to the Yankees instructional camp before the 1951 season and proceeded to make a big impression during spring training. One famous incident was when he hit two home runs at [[Bovard Field]] against the [[USC Trojans baseball|USC Trojans baseball team]], when the Yankees were on a thirteen-game spring training tour of the west coast. Both home runs, one from each side of the plate, reportedly traveled a distance of at least 500 feet.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Holmes |first1=Baxter |title=The home run that launched the myth of Mickey Mantle |url=https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2011-mar-25-la-sp-0326-mickey-mantle-20110326-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=March 25, 2011}}</ref> Impressed by the 19-year-old's power, Yankees manager [[Casey Stengel]] decided to promote Mantle to the majors as a [[right fielder]] instead of sending him to the minors; his salary for the 1951 season was $7,500.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/53868175/?terms=%22signed%2Bby%2Byankees%22 |title=Signed By Yankees |newspaper=[[The Brooklyn Eagle]] |date=September 24, 1950}}</ref> Mantle was assigned uniform No. 6, signifying the expectation from the Yankees front office that he would become the next Yankees star, following [[Babe Ruth]] (No. 3), [[Lou Gehrig]] (No. 4), and [[Joe DiMaggio]] (No. 5).<ref name=sabr-mantle/>

After a brief slump, Mantle was sent down to the Yankees' top farm team, the [[Kansas City Blues (American Association)|Kansas City Blues]]. His struggles at the plate continued.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Millstein |first1=Gilbert |title=Young Mickey Mantle finds baseball is more than ball-swatting |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/06/03/archives/young-mickey-mantle-finds-baseball-is-more-than-ballswatting-by.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 3, 1951 |url-access=subscription |via=TimesMachine}}</ref> Out of frustration, he called his father and told him: "I don't think I can play baseball anymore." Mutt Mantle drove up to [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] that day. When he arrived, he started packing his son's clothes and, according to Mantle, said: "I thought I raised a man. I see I raised a coward instead. You can come back to Oklahoma and work the mines with me." After his father's rebuke, Mantle gradually broke out of his slump and went on to hit .361 with 11 home runs and 50 RBIs during his stay in Kansas City.<ref name=sabr-mantle/>

Mantle was called up to the Yankees after 40 games with Kansas City, this time wearing uniform No. 7. He hit .267 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI in 96 games as the Yankees reached the World Series against the [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]].<ref>[[#Schoor|Schoor]], pp. 226–228.</ref> In the second game of the [[1951 World Series]], Giants rookie [[Willie Mays]] hit a fly ball to right-center field. Mantle, playing right field, raced for the ball together with center fielder DiMaggio. At the last moment, the latter called for the ball. In attempting to stay out of DiMaggio's way, Mantle's spikes got caught over an exposed drain pipe. His knee twisted awkwardly and he fell instantly, his right knee injured severely. Mantle had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. This was the first of numerous injuries that were to plague his eighteen-year career with the Yankees. He was to play the rest of his career with a torn [[anterior cruciate ligament]] (ACL).<ref>[[#Leavy|Leavy]], pp. 32–37, 109.</ref>

Accompanying his son to the hospital after the game, Mantle's father collapsed onto the sidewalk while trying to help his son into a taxi. The two were given hospital beds in the same room and watched the remainder of the World Series together. Mutt Mantle was diagnosed with [[Hodgkin's disease]]; he died a few months later at the age of 40, on May 7, 1952.<ref name=sabr-mantle/> Mantle, at the time away with the Yankees, was informed by manager Stengel of his father's death and was inconsolable.<ref>[[#Leavy|Leavy]], pp. 78–79.</ref>