April 24, 2020

The surprising news is that he had a greeting card.

"After Page Six reported that the Yankee legend [Mickey Mantle] once slipped a female journalist a greeting card mid-interview, that read 'Wanna f– k?,' we’re told that he also once thew up while having sex with Angie Dickinson" (NY Post).

ADDED: He "thew up." He talked like that while drunk.

AND: I think I have the explanation for why Mantle had a greeting card. I think women slipped him notes, and it was a woman who wrote "Wanna fuck?" in a greeting card. He had it in his pocket and thought it would be funny to hand it to the reporter. And — who know? — maybe it will get a yes. Basically: He regifted it!

37 comments:

Meade said...

Someone pobably slipped him a mickey.

Marcus Bressler said...

Doesn't matter, had sex.

THEOLDMAN

Mr. Forward said...

Hallmark at the ballpark. When you care enough to send the very best.

Barry Dauphin said...

And the throw up went over 400 ft.

Big Mike said...

Thursday we reported that sports reporter Diane Shah writes in her memoir, “A Farewell to Arms, Legs & Jockstraps,” that during an interview Mantle “reached inside his jacket and pulled out a greeting card. He handed it to me … Inside, it said, ‘Wanna f - - k?’ He grinned.”

And I imagine that Diane read it, grinned, and vigorously nodded her head in agreement. Women get like that in the presence of good-looking, wealthy, famous men. As Donald Trump once noted.

Ann Althouse said...

I figure a thing like that worked some of the time and when it didn't it got a laugh or — at worst — a gesture or facial expression that meant something like "Oh, you incorrigible rascal!"

brylun said...

"And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, your comment above, and the “AND” you added to your post, are both certainly correct. Of course, you lived in New York so you know what the women were like there.

Rory said...

That generation of actresses - including Dickinson, Welch, Loren, Andress, Ann-Margret, Cardinale, Bardot - have shown remarkable longevity considering the kind of lives movie folk were living in the 60s.

Temujin said...

Mickey was a legend for a lot of things.

Bay Area Guy said...

About 15 years ago, HBO had a movie "61" about Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris chasing Babe Ruth's record of 60 homers in a season. Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane played the 2 famous Yankees. (Obviously Mantle was way more famous than Maris). I think Billy Chrystal directed it. Great period piece about NY baseball in the early 60's.

Wince said...

Women agree: "Thanks for the gumball, Mickey!"

Tank said...

Many years ago Tank’s brother had a pocketful of cards just like this, including this card, so a not uncommon joke...or not.

Jeff Brokaw said...

The story would be far more interesting if the author included her reaction, whatever it was. Like Althouse notes, a guy like Micket Mantle could get away with this behavior, especially back then, because even when it didn’t work, you just know the women who rebuffed him were intrigued, flattered, and told ALL their froends.

Jeff Brokaw said...

“friends” (I hate these iPad on screen keyboards)

Jeff Brokaw said...

It’s pretty revealing that women who tell these stories always include the “can you believe he did that” part but never the “and here’s how I reacted” part, even though we all know females get hit on all the time by all kinds of different guys and have heard it all by the time they’re 17 years old give or take a couple of years.

And that from the right guys, it’s often a winning play and always appreciated to some degree, because women love flattery.

Drop the “ohmygosh I was so shocked” act. Not believable.

Right? Ladies? Your opinions solicited here.

Lurker21 said...


"We’re told that he also once thew up while having sex with Angie Dickinson"

Was he drunk, or did she just have very poor hygiene?

Was JFK there and did he throw up too?

tcrosse said...

Imus said that if you went to Mickey Mantle's restaurant on Central Park South and you guessed which table Mickey was under you'd win a steak.

Tom T. said...

When I was in Oklahoma City, my colleagues kept suggesting I visit his restaurant there. They said the beer-battered liver was to die for.

Rory said...

"...longtime gossip columnist Ben Widdicombe writes that a veteran Daily News editor once told him, “That sofa you’re sitting on right now … Mickey Mantle sat on that very sofa and told me...."

Ultimately, the sofa is the witness.

CJinPA said...

He had it in his pocket and thought it would be funny to hand it to the reporter. And — who know? — maybe it will get a yes

True story: After female sports reporters began insisting they be allowed to enter men's locker rooms in the late 1970s, one of the Orlando reporters had an affair with NBA star Julius Erving. The resulting daughter became a tennis pro: Alexandra Stevenson.

So such offers do sometimes get a 'yes.'

Rory said...

"we’re told that he also once thew up while having sex with Angie Dickinson."

The part of the story that contains a quote from the author says, "was so drunk that he threw up while he was [performing a sex act on her]."

Heartless Aztec said...

Always ask for what you want. More times than not you'll get what you asked for. Whether getting what you asked for is a good thing is a whole 'nother question.

Sebastian said...

Feynman's greatest discovery:

"You Just Ask Them?"

Sebastian said...

"Ultimately, the sofa is the witness."

Where is Sofa King when we need him?

Neighborhood Retail Alliance said...

As an 8 year old Mickey Mantle was my idol. So when we heard that he was signing autographs at Macy's, my mother and I went down to get my Mickey Mantle glove signed. Imagine my horror when I got there and found that Mickey was clearly too drunk to sign anything. Good life lesson on hero worship

chuck said...

I've known a couple of guys who regularly got "wanna fuck" notes from women. Waitresses, interviewers, whoever, the ladies wanted what they had. There was a downside, one told me he had to jump over a fence to avoid getting rundown by an angry husband. "And I didn't even fuck his wife" he told me. Life is so unfair.

Not Sure said...

Drunk, or allergic to shellfish?

Skeptical Voter said...

Violation of the rule "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" on Mickey's and the lady's part.

PM said...

"Big whoop."
- Whitey Ford.

William said...

I read The Last Boy by Jane Leavy. I hope this remains the definitive biography. It's a good read, and she pays attention not just to his boorishness but to all the hard luck and bad news he had to endure in life. It was a sad story. The only enduring relationships he had were with his teammates....He was sexually abused as a child and the osteomyelitis (if I have the right word) was not only disabling but life threatening.....He came from a simple background and was not prepared for all the fame and glory. He wasn't good at it, but the press covered for him for a long time.....Jane Leavy, as a child, lived across the street from Yankee Stadium and Mantle was the recipient of her hero worship. He treated her in a boorish way, but something remained of her hero worship in the bio. Well, Mantle, on the baseball diamond anyway, was a great hero. You can say what you want about Mickey Mantle, but he not only hit a lot of home runs but looked like the kind of guy you wanted to hit a lot of home runs.

William said...

I read the Richard Ben Cramer bio of Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio was a guy who knew how to be a superhero. He only had an 8th grade education, but he carried himself with dignity and discretion. He used to like comic books, but he sent his roommate down to buy them. He didn't want word to leak out that he read comic books....Both Mickey and the Clipper had enormous problems in their personal lives, but Joe was able to mask his problems with far greater success....Joe had far greater success with women than Mickey. According to Leavy, Mickey wasn't such a great lover. Women, as a general rule, are not turned on by projectile vomit, and he had other problems. Joe DiMaggio hit successfully just about every time up according to the Cramer book. Women were attracted to more than just his fame.

BudBrown said...

Sheesh. How old do you have to be to remember Mickey Mantle? Thing is I checked his wickipedia
page last night. I like his line when he was about 60 that he'd a taken better care of himself
if he'd known he was gonna live so long. I mention that line to my dentist when he starts projecting big ticket plans. Thirty years ago I was sitting at some table with a 7 year old nephew of some girl and to get the conversation going I bring up Mickey Mantle. Thing I'm thinking of now is 50 something years ago I'd play stickball with this guy, a freaking Yankees
fan (In Tampa you could root for about anyone since the nearest team was over a 1000 mile drive, before Atlanta got the Braves) who'd go thru the whole Yankee order and act out all the
peculiarities of each player as he got ready to bat. One of em would fiddle with his jock strap for a while, another would do all this spitting... You'd bean him with the cork ball except he had the routines down so pat you had to watch. And I cant remember what routine Mantle went thru as he was getting in the box and getting set. He had a photo of him standing tween Mantle and Maris with both autographs he'd gotten when they played a winter ball game in Tampa. Couldn't do that with Mays. Now all anybody recalls is the sex.

Michael said...

Joe DiMaggio, the original spokesman for Mr Coffee when drip makers first hit the market. Betcha woken banged him just for a taste of the sweet caffeine in the morning.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Neighborhood Retail Alliance said...
As an 8 year old Mickey Mantle was my idol. So when we heard that he was signing autographs at Macy's, my mother and I went down to get my Mickey Mantle glove signed. Imagine my horror when I got there and found that Mickey was clearly too drunk to sign anything. Good life lesson on hero worship"

It's probably better you didn't have any interaction with him. Once he showed up drunk to sign autographs and told a 12 year old boy, "Your mom has nice tits."

Mantle was a great player and a mean drunk.



exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

chuck said...
I've known a couple of guys who regularly got "wanna fuck" notes from women."

Heck, Richard Burbage, the star of Shakespeare's acting company had groupies - they are not a 20th century invention. The story goes that a female fan saw Burbage play Richard III and sent him a message saying he should visit her in her room dressed as the king. Shakepeare saw the note, got there first (the room must have been dark) and "was entertained." He met Burbage on the way out and Burbage was rather miffed. Shakepeare told him "William the Conqueror was before Richard III."

I hope that story's true.

tds said...

I like that the NYPost felt the need to specify that the journalist was a female