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A Game In Progress
A Game In Progress
The game is getting down to the nitty gritty and the opposing team is ready to pull ahead if we don't get our stuff together. Oh well I know I had him, blind ump. The next batter is their number four batter and he is ready to...
A Woman's True Confession: I Finally Understand the Male Obsession with Football...
Football season is here, which means that for the next several weeks - 90% of the male population of the US will spend an enormous amount of their "free time" watching games on TV (the bigger the screen, the better), attending football games...
Making All City - This Was a Great Moment In My Life.
Toward the end of my junior year at Weequahic High School in Newark New Jersey, I started hearing from my friends that I was going to make All City. How did they know I asked myself? In my usual mood of high esteem I was thinking that there was...
Paintball-One of the Safest sports today!
Paintball One Of The Safest Sports Out There Today. While
membership in the "Extreme Sports" category implies a whiff of
danger, only Paintball is handicapped by a huge injury
taboo--one that exists in the public mind, but not in the
statistics....
Where Are the Black Head Coaches
http://www.collegecharlie.com/Blackcoaches.html About the Author
Bill Cherry has been a prep school athletics administrator for 32 years. He is a form college football and baseball player and is the webmaster of the popular CollegeCharlie Sport...
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Meeting Mickey Mantle - His Idol
Meeting Mickey Mantle
Meeting Mickey Mantle would be a dream comes true. A dream realized for Dan on his 38th birthday, when his wife honored him with a week long stay at the Yankee Fantasy Camp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Dan played with some of the Yankee legends: Bobby Murcer, Mickey Rivers, Ron Guidry, Moose Skowron and Catfish Hunter. The games were great and being on the same field with some of the players he had watched on TV or at Yankee Stadium was mesmerizing.
But what made the week particularly special was the friendship he nurtured with his hero. The Mick even gave Dan a nickname - “Nails” for the scrappy, Lenny Dykstra-way that Dan played. While Mickey didn’t play in these games, he did spend a lot of time with all the campers. Dan took this time to get to know Mickey. He loved his down to earth quality. He loved his honesty. He loved being around him.
“Getting to know Mickey Mantle was as much fun as playing with the pros,” Dan told me later.
In one of the games that Mickey was umpiring, Dan strolled to the
plate with the bases loaded. His big chance was here and he didn’t miss the opportunity as he walloped a long double into the gap. He hit a rope, and as he glided into second base Mickey yelled to him, “You hit the sh*^ out of that ball, Nails!”
This was like a call from God. Hearing his idol tell him how well he hit the ball was more fulfilling than Dan could ever have imagined.
What could be better than meeting and then hanging out with Mickey Mantle? How about being recognized as a ballplayer by your childhood hero?
It doesn’t get any better than that.
This content of this story was contributed by Dan Markim. A long time Yankee fan.
About the Author
Aron Wallad has been a baseball lover for over 40 years. Writing about his favorite subject, baseball, has been a blessing. You will enjoy the heartwarming stories, the unusual statistics and inspiring quotes. But mostly you will love the heartwarming stories that hit a home run to your heart.
Join his ezine http://www.baseballsprideandjoy.com/index.php?tag=goart
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