Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 29, 1994 TAG: 9401290143
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Mantle, 62, a Hall of Famer since 1974, is expected to complete treatment in February, according to a statement issued Friday by his business manager, Roy True.
The statement didn't say when the three-time American League Most Valuable Player entered the clinic, only that he was receiving treatment for "a 43-year battle with alcohol abuse." The statement said Mantle's decision to seek treatment was "prompted by brief periods of blackouts, suffering from memory loss over the past six years and concern about possible liver damage."
"Mickey began using alcohol early in his life, perhaps a casualty of his early professional success," True said in the statement.
Mantle, eighth on the all-time home runs list with 536, retired at age 36 in 1968 after 18 seasons with the New York Yankees. He won four American League home run titles.
His career was hampered by injuries to his knees, thighs, shoulders, fingers and hip, and by osteomyelitis, which nearly crippled him. Mantle is the only male member of his family to live past the age of 41. His father died at 41 from Hodgkin's disease, a lymphatic cancer; his grandfather died at 40 of the same ailment.
"If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself," he once said.
Mantle, named by his father after another Hall of Famer, Mickey Cochrane, took over center field from Joe DiMaggio and was booed at first. But he won over the fans and won the AL triple crown in 1956 with a .353 batting average, 52 homers and 130 RBI.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB