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Quick Take No, it’s not a sports take. It’s my tribute to Jacob Cohen, who passed away Tuesday of this week. MY WIFE WANTED TO HAVE SEX IN THE BACK SEAT OF OUR CAR. SHE WANTED ME TO DRIVE. MY WIFE AND I ONLY HAVE SEX ONCE A WEEK. THAT'S OK; I KNOW SOME GUYS SHE CUT OUT ALTOGETHER. I DROPPED A VIAGRA IN THE TOILET. NOW I CAN'T GET THE LID DOWN. RODNEY DANGERFIELD, "NO RESPECT" MADE YOU A TON OF MONEY, BUT, TO BE SURE, YOU HAD EVERYONE’S RESPECT. YOU WERE THE MASTER OF DELIVERY AND TIMING. YOU ABSOLUTELY WERE THE UNRIVALED KING OF COMEDY. I AM THE PROUD OWNER OF ALL OF YOUR AUDIO AND VIDEO WORKS, AND I SHALL CHERISH EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM. AND I’LL CHERISH, TOO, THE MEMORIES OF THE MANY SHOWS I SAW YOU PERFORM IN PERSON DOWN THROUGH THE YEARS. HERE’S TO YOU, RODNEY, WITH ALL MY RESPECT. Story of the WeeK MICKEY MANTLE Despite a chronic bone infection in his legs, and operations on both knees, Mickey Mantle became baseball’s most powerful switch-hitter. He hit 536 home runs in regular season play, and added a record 18 more in World Series competition. (Those 554 home runs meant something; they weren’t oversized, rocket-propelled golf balls known as baseballs today.) Mantle’s father taught him to switch-hit when he was five years old. He starred in high school baseball and football in his native Oklahoma. After a short career at shortstop in the minors, he became the Yankees’ regular right fielder when only 19. He suffered his first serious injury during the 1951 World Series when he tripped over a drain at Yankee Stadium, and required surgery for torn knee cartilage. Joe DiMaggio retired that fall, and Mantle moved to center field, hitting .311 in 142 games. He led the AL in home runs in 1955, and in 1956 he won the Triple Crown, hitting 52 homers, driving in 130 runs, and batting .353. He is the only player in MLB history besides Jimmie Foxx to hit 50 homers and win a batting title in the same season. Mantle won the MVP award, and hit three homers in the 1956 World Series against Brooklyn. In 1957, he again was MVP. He again won home run crowns in 1958 and 1960, and finished second to Roger Maris’ record 61 homers in 1961. He was MVP a third time in 1962. On June 5, 1963, Mantle broke his foot in a game in Baltimore, adding to his injury misery. Mantle’s personal choice for his most memorable home run of all was his ninth-inning shot off Cardinal Barney Shultz in the 1964 World Series. That home run broke Babe Ruth’s record for lifetime World Series homers, and won Game Three of that Series. He hit two more home runs in the 1964 Series. He wound up his 10th. career World Series with 18 homers, 42 runs scored, 40 RBI’s, and 123 total bases-----all World Series career records. Mantle was a devastating hitter. His lifetime .298 batting average was accompanied by all those home runs and runs-batted-in. He was a fine defensive player, but he could have been one of the all-time best in the field and on the bases were it not for the many injuries he played through during his entire career. His penchant for alcohol certainly was not his ally either. Mickey Mantle retired in spring training in 1969. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. He passed away in 1995. Last Week’s Trivia The magnificent gymnast, Mary Lou Retton, was the first female to adorn a Wheaties box. Trivia Question of the Week What is Hal Smith’s claim to fame? See next week’s Sports Junkie for the answer.
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