European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 01, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Ron Rapoport a staff writer in Tom inside the dugout you can seethe banners. They cover most of the facing Between the first and second decks celebrating his wonders urging him to hit one Here  on the grass the television Sporis broadcasters arrive in their Green jackets. One after another they guide him out into the sunlight ask him How his legs Are How playing first base is and How Many years have you go left across the top of the dugout leans Ablack haired girl wearing pastel shorts and a Matching jacket. She hands a Boito Joe Pepitone. It contains a pie Bear ing the frosted legend  the great Days of Yankee domination of professional baseball Are Over. New. Teams bearing the names of , Minnesota fight for the Pennant with clubs that Haven t won in More than 20 years Boston Detroit. Gone too Are the stars. Ford an Berra Richardson and Bauer have Given Way to Womack and Gibbs Clarke and Robinson. Gone in fact is every player who was on a team Man aged by Casey Stengel who left the club in 1960 after bringing it 10 pen Nants. Every player that is except Mickey Mantle who with the retire ment of Whitey Ford Ami the trading away of Elston Howard this season is the sole remaining link to the Stengel Days. His batting average hangs around the.260 Mark now but this has been a Good season for Mantle. If Only because at 35, he can play nearly All the time and not Hurt too much. At Yankee stadium he is the elder statesman the fans cheering his every move his teammates regarding Hamas their Leader. On the Road the Yankees flirting with the cellar All season were the biggest draw in a league haying one of the hottest Pennant races in its history. The reason All agree is Mantle.  every bubblegum Chewer knows Mantle is the son of an Oklahoma Miner who determined that the Best Way to keep Mickey out of the mine was to make him a ballplayer. So Mickey Learned to switch hit when theother kids were learning to tie their shoes. Just out of High school Mantle was Given a b9nus of $1,100 to sign a Yankee contract in 1949. He was sent first to Independence mo., where he did Well and then to Joplin mo., where he did better. He was hitting .383 with 26 Home run Sand 136 runs batted in when the Yankees figured he was ready for a look at the majors. In 1951, Mantle arrived at the new York Spring training Camp a Phoenix Ariz. Phil Rizzuto who played shortstop online new York Pennant winners through the mid-1950s, is now radio and Tele vision announcer for the club. He re members the  was talking about him when he came to Phoenix said Rizzu to. He d always been a shortstop and when i saw the Way he could run an hit i figured they were going to have to move me out to make room for this kid. And i was most valuable player in 50." but it was t Long before Mantle Wasin the Outfield where with his Speed and Arm he adapted quickly. For much of that first year he stayed with the Yankees but even on a Pennant winning club the pressure was too great for someone who was going to take the place of Joe Dimaggio then in his last year but who was after All 19 years old Mantle was sent Back to the Yankees Kansas City farm. In August he was Back in new York for  in the world series that year the first in a seemingly endless string of injuries struck. Going Back for a Fly Ball in Yankee stadium he stepped Ina drainage Hole and went Clown in a Heap. During the Winter he was operate Don for the removal of cartilage and in the ensuing 16 years he has been in handout of hospitals for a wide variety of injuries. There is a standing joke among the Yankees that has a player asking Pago 10 sports scene Muffi Lone i pm mid despite being hampered by weary injury prone legs Mantle at 35 is still a picture of Power swinging the Bat. Up Mantle when he is going to reach his potential. For the first few years of his career the question was constantly coming up. No one could say a .300 batting average and Home run output in the 20s was unimpressive but somehow More was expected. In 1956 and 1957, the potential was reached. He won the triple Crown the first year and through most of the sea son newspaper readers were accustomed to seeing Side by Side compari sons of his Home run total with that of babe Ruth s Pace in 1927. Ruth won therace 60-52. The Homer output fell off to 34 in1957, but he hit .365 and drove in 146 runs both the Best Marks of his career. Mantle was voted the american league most valuable player both years and again in 1962. But As the Yankees won Pennant after Pennant and Mantle slowed by repeated injuries slipped from All Tim great to Mere superstar the question changed from would he play Well enough to reach his potential to would he play often enough. There was the great year of the Home run in 1961, when Roger Maris hit 61 and Mantle a career Best 54. But in1963, a broken foot kept him out of All but 65 games. Articles about his career inevitable included the word "twilight."still, every season there he was in the Outfield slowed by injuries but still hitting the Ball out of the Park. Then this year came the big Experiment. To save Mantle s legs he would play first base. At Spring train ing the press hovered Over every move recalling stories of Dimaggio s one sorry attempt at playing first which ended with his stalking away saying never again. If Mickey weren t at first base say manager Ralph Houk i doubt if he d have played 50 games by now and we be so far in the cellar you would t be Lieve it. The whole answer is he s been a Leto play and the Way he s been talking to me he intends to keep on  change has been tremendous for him responds Rizzuto. He s swing ing a lot better and talking about three or four More years. Last year he was saying this year was the last one an maybe not even this  Mantle hit his 500th Home run this year and when he hit his 512th, he passed Mel Ott and became fifth on theall time list. But a number the Yankees like even More is the one under games played. So far this season nobody on the club has been in More. I m feeling real Good now he  i get a Little tired maybe and my legs have been aching at time Sas if i m dragging two Bowling balls with me. I know i could t play the Outfield the Way my legs feel but i can get by at first. If i d moved there two year Sago it might have added a couple of More years to my  finally the inevitable question How much longer a i Don t want to talk about that he says jerking up off the Bench and walking away. Everybody wants to know when i m going to  i can t quit he shouts Down the dug out. And laughing they re closing the mines 1he stars and Stipes sunday october 1, 1967