Mickey Mantle, the famous Yankee slugger-center fielder was born On October 20, 1931. He died August 13, 1995. His funeral was held in Texas on August 18th. Fate had the night of his funeral as the same night The Yankees were playing at Fenway Park against The Red Sox.
My friend Vitas got tickets for the new Sky Box seats located directly over The Red Sox batter-on-deck circle. It was like we were right on top of the on-deck batter. In those days the Sox, though improving, still struggled -- The Yankees then were supreme. My theory remains that The Yankees always did well because New York City's bars were open all night thus making for great temptation for visiting teams turning those games into: Yankees vs. The Hangovers--lol!
Anyway, on this baseball night fate was in the air. We bumped into a very emotional Phil Rizzuto, long-time Yankee shortstop and later their broadcaster. He had just quit his broadcasting job in the fifth inning. We were near him and overheard his anger that WPIX made him broadcast the game instead of letting him attend Mantle's funeral. He was an emotional wreck. Tears were in his eyes. It was a true stop and stare moment as we overheard his angst and sorrowfully watched him pass by us. Phil was right, he should have been at the funeral!
We get back to our seats and The Yankees are drubbing the Sox. I think the Sox were down 9 to 3. But few cared about the score as the vibe of the night was Mantle's funeral, and you could sense the ball players talking about it on the field.
For any baseball purist, given what Mantle meant to the game, this was a very sad day for baseball.
Now comes the 7th inning and seemingly an obvious defeat for The Red Sox. Although deep in our hearts and our emotional psyche, we both knew the "Yankees Sucked," we began talking about how The Yanks' deserved to win due to it being Mantle's funeral.
Then something very amazing thing happened. Suddenly, a praying mantis fluttered from the air and landed directly on the right rail of my seat. Motionlessly, it clung to the rail, almost as if it had its own ticket and rights to my chair.
I say, "Hey, Vitas! Check this out!" I pointed to the praying mantis and quipped, "It's Mickey Mantis the Praying Mantle!" Incredibly, our new insect friend stayed with us for the last three innings. Everyone in the seats around us were thrilled and marveled that Mickey Mantle had visited us in the form of a praying mantis. I think it sensed our enjoyment over its presence -- we were even talking to it--lol!
Mickey Mantis -- The Praying Mantle! I’m not sure if we adopted it, or it had adopted us. But it stayed with me in my seat until the end of the game!
After The Yankees won we were sitting there sort of in a daze, out of beer but still with Mickey.
Vitas finally said, "Let's hit The Cellar (our Mass Ave. Cambridge bar) for last call." It closed at midnight. The next bar in line would be the Plough & Stars with a 1 am last call, and then on to The People's Republic of Cambridge (formerly Drumlins) for the ultimate 2 pm last call.
I said, "What about Mickey Mantis The Praying Mantle?" Vitas said, "Bring him with us, put him in your cup!"
So I wiped out the cup as clean as possible and softly urged the praying mantis into what would become his travel cup. He entered willingly, almost wantingly but certainly fatefully. Using my Red Sox program to cover the cup, we exited The Skybox seats of Fenway and hit the Cambridge bar scene.
As we went from The Cellar to The Plough to The People's Republic, everyone we encountered got to meet Mickey Mantis The Praying Mantle. He became the toast of our Cambridge bar scene. Interestingly, this was how many folks in the bars that night learned it was the night of Mickey Mantle's funeral. We steadfastly claimed Mickey Mantle had become reincarnated into a praying mantis and that he arrived at Fenway that night to become a Red Sox fan.
I likened this reality into a parallel of Babe Ruth's daughter who had became a Sox fan, wanting The Red Sox to "Break The Curse!" We believed that Mickey Mantle, in his afterlife, had morphed into rooting for The Red Sox. The Sox eventually broke "The Curse of The Bambino" in 2004. Baseball lure was such that Babe Ruth cursed The Red Sox when he learned he'd been traded to The Yankees.
When the very last of last calls were had, we released Mickey Mantis The Praying Mantle into a nearby field of brush and trees. And like his namesake, he definitely had to have had a buzz! Indeed, Mickey Mantle The Praying Mantis was: “The Great Teammate!”
