In the winter of 1968, the executive board of the Major League Baseball Players Association recommended that no player sign his 1969 contract until an agreement had been reached with the owners concerning the ballplayers' pension plan. (Remember, it's 1968 - and players are paid about 5% of what they now receive. This pension deal was important to the players in '68.)
The executive board asked each team's Player Representative to talk to his teammates, to get their permission to use their teammates' names publicly as supporters of the position of the Players Association. Here's where Mickey Mantle's name comes up.
The reports of the player reps of their conversations with other players were most encouraging. They understood the need for this action and offered solid support.
Yankees player rep Steve Hamilton reported, with a twinkle in his eye, that the most interesting conversation he had was with Mickey Mantle, who, although never hostile to the Players Association, had always seemed somewhat aloof. Steve thought of this when he called Mantle.
Mickey's response was that it didn't really affect him because he had finally made his decision not to play in 1969. Steve, whose placid laid-back manner conceals how sharp he really is, quickly asked Mantle if he had told the club or the press of his retirement dicision. Mickey said he hadn't.
Steve then made him a request: would Mickey delay announcing his retirement and give us permission to include his name with all the players who agreed not to sign contracts?
Mantle had only one question: would it help the players and the Association? "Yes," Steve replied, "it would." The implication was that even at the end of his career, the Mantle name had magic.
"Then yes, of course," Mantle replied. "Use my name."
So even out of uniform - even out of Baseball - Mickey Mantle helped other ballplayers, teammates and opponents. We all have lost a great friend.
| Editors Note: The italicized part of the above article comes from Marvin Miller's outstanding book on the sport and business of baseball, A Whole Different Ballgame, Carol Publishing Group. Mr. Miller's book traces the history of conflict between players and owners and is really worth reading. |
Did you know...that a batter is out if, after he has bunted the ball, the ball bounces up and hits the bat again if the bat is in fair territory. It does not matter whre the batter's feet are - in the batter's box or not.
Major League Baseball got it right by making the Round One Series a best-of-fives games series. But, MLB has not sufficiently awarded the teams with the better regular season records.
The top two teams in each league (as determined by their regular season winning percentage) deserve to be at home for the first three games in the Round One Series. And, the team with the best record in the league deserves to play against the least successful playoff-bound team in Round One.
Hopefully, in 1996, MLB will change the format for the Round One Series, using the ideas described above. If MLB does, remember this: you saw it first in The JUGS Newsletter!
| Editors Note: The Round One Series format that MLB is going to use in 1995 does not take into consideration the fact that a wild card team could have a better regular season record than a division champion. The format we suggest here in TJN does take this wild card possibility into consideration. |