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A Choose Up Game - One of My Best Games
A Choose Up Game - One of My Best Games The teams were picked and the line ups were announced. I was batting third. I could not wait to hit. Hitting to me was like eating for a fat man with a tape worm. I lived for the experience. I knew even...
Changing Landscape of the NHL
Changing Landscape of the NHL
The changing face of the NHL is very prominent as the first regular season play begins for the 2005-2006 season. Big named players have left big named teams for the previously has-been doorstops of the NHL. It is...
Coaching Sports For All The Right Reasons
The Glove It was during a March evening in 2002 that I received word that my grandfather was dying. I drove the four and a half hours to Ironwood, Michigan in a snowstorm to say goodbye. I was able to see my grandpa and he was able to recognize me...
Hockey Rules in Real Life
"I went to the fights the other night...and a hockey game broke out."
--Rodney Dangerfield.
Every hockey fan has heard of Todd Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi plays for the Vancouver Canucks. Make that "fights" for the Vancouver Canucks. Make that...
So You’re The New Baseball Coach
So you’re the new coach. Ok, now what? Coaching a team sure seemed like a good idea, maybe even easy…until you started thinking and getting into it deeper. All those players, parents, the draft, practices…and those game decisions…ugh. Maybe...
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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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