Quote:
Originally Posted by brostholder
Tom, I am a huge Mickey Mantle fan and can fondly remember chasing batting practice home runs before the game in the old stadium and catching balls from Mantle and Maris. I remember meeting the Mick and marveling at the size of his neck! But Dimaggio struck out less in his whole career then Mick did in just 1958, 59 and 60. Granted, Mantle was the better home run hitter, but Joe had more rbi's even though he played almost 700 games less (that's more than 4 full seasons). And let's not forget the 56 game hitting streak. I guess we Yankee fans are blessed that we can debate the differences between two great ballplayers. One story told at the meeting was by a guy who said he never saw Joe start for a fly ball. No matter how he tried, Joe was already in motion whenever he looked.
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I am not saying Joe D was not better than Mantle. They were both great but Mickey was my guy. The amazing stat about Joltin Joe was he hit 361 home runs and struck out only 367 times. And yes, in Yankee Stadium with death valley the 361 home runs would have been many more if Joe D were a switch hitter and could take advantage of the short porch (296) in right field.
We could talk all day about who was better and if you say Joe D was, you might be right. No argument here. But Mickey was my man.