Mickey Mantle Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shortstop

Turns out the Gold Glove-winning Centerfielder couldn't field a ground ball to save his life. During his last two seasons in the minors, he made 102 errors at shortstop, and was so wild that his teammates strung chicken wire behind first base, to keep him from killing any fans.

Answer: 6

Mickey wore #6 during his first year in 1951 with the Yankees. Cliff Mapes occupied the #7 jersey.

Answer: The Commerce Comet

Mickey attended Commerce High School, and was known for his lightning speed on the basepaths and in the field. He also had the nickname of 'Muscles'.

Answer: 3

He won MVP awards in 1956 when he won the Triple Crown, 1957, and 1962 brought him the MVP.

Answer: Tom Greenwade

Mickey was signed to a New York Yankee contract by scout Tom Greenwade. When Mickey's dad hinted that his son could make as much working in the mines and playing ball on Sundays, Greenwade threw in a monetary bonus.

Answer: Joplin, MO

From Mickey's Hall of Fame induction speech: "There is a man and a woman here that were really nice to me all through the years, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Youngman. I don't know if all of you have ever heard about any of my business endeavors or not, but some of 'em weren't too good. Probably the worst thing I ever did was movin' away from Mr. Youngman. We went and moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1957, but Mr. Youngman built a Holiday Inn in Joplin, Missouri, and called it Mickey Mantle's Holiday Inn. And we were doin' pretty good there, and Mr. Youngman said, 'You know, you're half of this thing, so why don't you do something for it.' So we had real good chicken there and I made up a slogan. Merlyn doesn't want me to tell this, but I'm going to tell it anyway. I made up the slogan for our chicken and I said, 'To get a better piece of chicken, you'd have to be a rooster, and I don't know if that's what closed up our Holiday Inn or not, but we didn't do too good after that. No, actually, it was really a good deal".

Answer: 1956

In 1956 he hit 52 home runs, batted .353, and drove in 130 runs.

Answer: Gordon Stanley Cochrane

Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane was a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Detroit Tigers from 1925-1937. He hit a home run in his last major league at-bat. Joseph "Arky" Vaughan, Earle Combs, and Charles "Chuck" Klein, are other MLB HOF'ers.

Answer: False

No one has ever hit a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium in the 20th century, although Mickey came the closest. He reached the gothic wrought-iron facade that hung from the old stadium's roof five times. In addition to his widely remembered shots of May 30, 1956, when only the top 18 inches of the right-field facade kept the ball in the park, and May 22, 1963, when the ball was still rising when it hit the facade a few feet from the top, Mantle struck the same right-field facade on August 7, 1955, against Detroit; on May 5, 1956, against Kansas City; and on June 23, 1957, against the White Sox.

Answer: Spavinaw, OK

Mickey was born in Spavinaw, OK, just outside of Commerce, OK. Thus, the 'Commerce Comet' nickname.

Answer: Billy Martin and Whitey Ford

Although Mickey's roommates were immortalized in Billy Crystal's "61*", it was Mickey, Billy, and Whitey, who were inseparable during their time in the big leagues.

Answer: A hip abscess caused by a bad reaction to a shot

Mickey had a long history of injuries and ailments, perhaps none more notorious than the hip abscess he suffered near the end of the 1961 season, as a bad reaction to a "cure-all" shot administered to help cure a viral infection he was suffering from.

The abscess sidelined him for the last three games of the regular season, and paved the way for Roger Maris to hit his historic 61 home runs. He hot 54 home runs; it was the first time two teams mates hit more than 50 home runs in the same season.

Answer: Eddie Mathews

Mickey hit his 500th home run on May 14, 1967-Mother's Day. Eddie Mathews followed up with his 500th on July 14, 1967.

Answer: Houston Astrodome in Houston, TX

Mickey hit the first home run in the Houston Astrodome on April 9, 1965, where the New York Yankees were facing off against the Houston Astros in the final game of Spring Training.

Answer: Casey Stengel

Casey Stengel managed the Yankees from 1949-1960, including Mickey's rookie year of 1951. Stengel went on to lead the Yankees to ten pennants and seven world series titles in his twelve-year tenure.