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6. Mickey Mantle
| We liked the Commerce Comet because he could do it all. He could bunt for a hit or he could blast a baseball 565 feet. He could hit from both sides of the plate, run like a thoroughbred, play with pain and win the Triple Crown. Yet his passing was as memorable as his playing. Just before he died in 1995 from complications of liver cancer, Mantle made a very public penance for a life lived too hard with too many drinks. His last great play was to raise awareness for organ donation. It was then that we liked him best of all. |
Photograph by Mark Kauffman
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