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MICKEY MANTLE'S SALVATION STORY
The #7 is for the Mick, or Mickey Mantle, who played for the New York Yankees.
Why do I bring this out about Mickey Mantle. Well 1st of all without a team playing with Him Mick would have won zero World Series. But because of a team effort Mickey played in 12 World Series, and won 7 World Championships.
And because of a team effort they won 113 and only lost 54 in 1961.
2nd. Because of a certain player on his team, who let his light shine, Mick might not be in heaven today. Here’s the story.
Remember, it wasn’t how Mick started his life but how he finished it.
You might have read the stories how Mick would come to games drunk, He had a problem with alcohol and it cost him his life.
Mickey Charles Mantle (The Mick)
Born: October 20, 1931
Died: August 13, 1995 (Aged 63)
Some of his awards
1956 Major League Player of the Year
1956 AL MVP
1956 AL Triple Crown
1957 AL MVP
1962 AL MVP
1965 ML Hutch Award
He was one of the most compelling athletic heroes in American history. Long after he'd hung up his fabled pin striped uniform, grown men would stammer and stutter in his presence and faithful fans would pay outlandish prices for his memorabilia. His achievements were many, but they cannot explain his enduring popularity. His legion of admirers felt a deep emotional attachment to this man who moved with such fluid grace and raw power. They loved Mickey Mantle.
His statistics are staggering--536 home runs, 1,509 RBIs, .298 career batting average, seven world championships, and three MVP awards--and they are all the more impressive when we consider how the Hall of Famer courageously battled chronic, painful injuries during his 18 years with the New York Yankees. In addition, he won the Triple Crown in 1956--a .353 batting average, 52 HRs, and 130 RBIs. In 1961, he hammered 54 homers, just six shy of Babe Ruth's record.
But these numbers pale when compared to what happened in the harsh summer of '95 when his heart took over in that desperate final inning. Faced with an aggressive cancer, he displayed incredible courage, humility, even humor as he battled for his life. And when he chose to drag his frail body in front of a mass of microphones and address the public, there was not a trace of self-pity in his words--only heartfelt pleas to avoid the mistakes he had made. "Don't be like me," he humbly declared, "I'm no role model!" But despite his flaws, Mantle remained a hero to his multitude of fans, and due to his honesty gained many new ones.
At age 19, Mickey Mantle left the lead mines of Oklahoma for the bright lights of New York City. Unfortunately, those lights cast an eerie shadow over his life. After Mickey's first season, his father, Mutt Mantle, died of Hodgkins disease at 40. His grandfather and two of his uncles also died to the same disease before their 40th birthdays. As a result, a growing fear of dying young haunted the budding superstar. He would talk long into the night with close teammates, confiding to them this nagging fear.
Convinced an early funeral was his fate, though often joking about it, he played hard and partied even harder. For him there was no tomorrow. Tragically, this attitude led to a 40-year bout with alcohol that caused his body to grow older before its time and clouded his mind. Many criticized his self-destructive lifestyle, saying it sabotaged the greatest combination of power and speed the game had ever seen. In autumn of his life, Mantle came to agree with those critics, admitting that his drug of choice, alcohol, kept him from reaching his full potential--as a player and a person. Mickey Mantle had learned the hard lesson that a man reap what he sows.
Finally in 1994, at the urging of his family and friends, Mickey Mantle sought help for his addiction. After checking himself into the Betty Ford Center, he was able to win his long battle with the bottle. But he knew something was still missing in his life. He just wasn't sure what it was.
In June of '95, doctors discovered that cancer had destroyed Mantle's liver. He was fortunate to receive a transplant, and for a while it seemed as if the greatest switch hitter of all time would live to fight another day. Then doctors found that cancer remained in his body, and he began chemotherapy. Mickey knew he was facing death. During the All-Star break in Dallas, he picked up the phone and called his old friend and teammate, former Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson--a committed Christian. Mickey asked him to pray for him over the telephone. A few weeks later when the doctors had discovered that the cancer aggresively spread, Mickey's family asked Bobby if he would come visit him.
His death was imminent. After entering the hospital room, Richardson went over to Mantle's bed and took his hand. Locking his eyes on him, Bobby said, "Mickey, I love you, and I want you to spend eternity in heaven with me." Mantle smiled said, "Bobby, I've been wanting to tell you that I have trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior." Faced with the crushing weight of his sin against a holy God and its dire consequence-- eternal seperation from God--Mickey had asked for and received the forgiveness he so desperately needed. For Richardson, news of his conversion felt like cool rain after a summer drought, and brought tears to his eyes. For years, he had talked to Mickey about the Lord Jesus, but to no avail. Now, in the final inning of his life, the Mick had won his greatest victory--more glorious than any of his tape measured home runs.
When asked later how he knew he would spend eternity with God in heaven, Mickey, after some reflection, quoted John 3:16 from the Bible: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
At Mickey's funeral, Bobby Richardson told 2,000 mourners and a national TV audience that there are only two groups of people: those who say "yes" to Christ and those who say "no". He added that, since none of us knows when he will face his own final inning, saying "maybe" is really saying "no". The Bible confirms this when it says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36).
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that Star - Spangled Banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty hosts in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
n full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
’Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
The Defense of Fort McHenry
By Sir Francis Scott Key, 20 September 1814
GOD BLESS AMERICA
God bless A - mer-i-ca____
Land that I love_____
Stand be-side her and guide her__
Thru the night with a light from a - bove____
From the moun-tains____ to the prai-ries___
To the o-ceans white with foam____
God bless A - mer-i-ca___My home sweet home______
God bless A - mer-i-ca___My home sweet home______
Circa 1939
By Irving Berlin
You’re A Grand Old Flag,
You’re A Grand Old Flag,
You’re a high fly-ing flag,
And for-ev-er, in peace, may you wave.__
You’re the em-blem of___ the land I love,
The home of the free and the brave.___
Ev-’ry heart beats true
’neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where ther’s nev-er a boast or brag,___
But, should auld ac-quaint-ance be for-got,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.___
Over there
Over there,__ Over there,____Send the word, send the word o-ver there,___
That the Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming,
The drums rum-- tum-- ming every where._____
So prepare say a prayer
Send the word; send the word to be ware.
We’ll be over, we’re coming over,
And we won’t come back till it’s over… over there.
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
Oh beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain.
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
Oh beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress.
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
Oh beautiful for heroes proved
in liberating strife
Who more than self their country loved,
and mercy more than life
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness, And ev’ry gain divine
Oh beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years.
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America! God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
An AP and MTV study indicates young
people view human relationships, especially family ties, as the greatest cause of happiness in life. 73% said their relationship with their parents makes them happy. 64% of 13-to 17-year olds whose parents are still together wake up happy in the morning, 20% higher than kids of divorced parents. After family, it’s spending time with friends followed by spending time with a significant other. 92% definitely or possibly want to get married, and most want to have children. However, being sexually active generally causes unhappiness in 13-to 17-year olds. Even for 18 to 24s, sex may lead to temporary happiness but generally causes unhappiness. 55% say religion is either “a very important part of life” or the “single most important thing” in life. People who have a religion or some kind of spirituality tend to be happier. When asked who is their hero, 10% named God, 5% a teacher, but nearly 50% said mom and/or dad. (LifeSiteNews.com 8/21/07)
Research is wonderful. Sometimes it means nothing and sometimes there can be a lot of information in these statistics. For instance, researchers for the World Almanac and Book of Facts asked 2000 American eighth-grade students to name prominent people they admired and wanted to be like. Those most frequently mentioned by the teens, as their heroes were celebrities: movie stars, athlete and musicians.
It is further suggest...
At the end of each calendar year USA Today, CNN and The Gallup organization ask the question: “Who are your heroes?” -Or- “Name the people you most admire.” Here’s the top ten results from last year.: #1- George W. Bush (dominating with 39% -highest ever)
2-Laura Bush;
3-Hillary Clinton;
4- Oprah Winfrey;
5- Colin Powell;
6- Rudy Giuliani;
7- Pope John Paul II;
8-Tony Blair
9-Michael Jordan; and
10-Madonna.
Steven Hess an expert on public opinion polls had an interesting take on last years results. He said, “Our heroes today can be our goats tomorrow. President Bush’s dominance in the 2001 poll is obviously because of the way he handled the Sept.11 crisis. But what is...
