What if Mickey Mantle didn't blow out his knee in 51'

Question

In Game 3 of the 51' Series antle was in RF w/the aging Joe DiMaggio and hsi bea knees in centre. Willie Mays hit a drive towards centre and Mantle chased it down not expecting Joe D. to reach it however upon seeing DiMaggio getting under the ball and calling it late Mantle suddenly pulled up and his ankle caught a sprinkler head causing him to blow out his knee. What if Mantle had avoided the spriknkler head, stayed healthy.

How would history be different

Answer 1

The better question would be what if Mickey wasnt an alcoholic. we might still have him here today.

we can play what if all day. but it wont get anyone anywhere.

The Mick was one of the greatest so obviously he would have been even better.

Answer 2

Chicks Dig The Long Ball is right on. It wasn't baseball that did the Mick in. It was self abuse to his body.

Answer 3

Mantle could have beaten the all time home run record back then, and/or he could have made it to 3,000 hits.

Answer 4

Everything happens for a reason. You never know, the world could be much different right now.

Answer 5

A healthy Mickey Mantle, (who I still consider to be the greatest single talent the game has ever known),  would probably not have hit the bottle as often as he did.  3000 plus hits over his career?  Yes!  700 to 800 career home runs?  Yes!  Perhaps more than just the one Triple Crown season.  Maybe even a .400 season or two.  I'd even add 30 to 40 points to his career .298 lifetime batting average.

As far as championships, being on 12 American League Pennant winners and 7 World Series Championship teams was impressive enough.  Perhaps that would have improved but it's really hard to say.

As far as the play that blew out Mantle's knee, there are several version of the story.  The most common was that DiMaggio dispised Mantle mainly because of his raw talent and his questionable life style.  Many say DiMaggio purposely waited to the last minute to make the call just to show Mantle up.  DiMaggio gelousey either directly or indirectly lead to Mantle fate.

Joe DiMaggio was NOT a very well liked guy.  He rarely mixed with his teammates and in his own mind felt he was better than everyone else.  Perhaps as a ballplayer he was but certainly not as a human being.  What hurt Mantle most was that as a boy he idealized DiMaggio only to find out that there wasn't a kind bone in his body.

Answer 6

He would have broke the hr record, and barry bonds wouldn't have broken mantles.

Answer 7

Who knows because even with his injuries he was an incredible ballplayer. But even by his own admission he didn't take care very good care of himself and that shortened his career just as much -- he put up great numbers but was done at 37.

You have to wonder what modern medicine would have done for that knee. A little bit like what a guy like Dr. Andrews could have done to Sandy Koufax' elbow to have extended his career.