Visit the Baseball History Comes Alive Home Page
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive
Free Bonus for Subscribing:
Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide
Mickey Mantle Photo Gallery
Bob Kazava with teammates Mickey Mantle and Gene Woodling
Toots with Mickey Mantle
Ton Greenwade with prize prospect, Mickey Mantle
Joe with Roger Maris and Mickey mantle
1974 new inductees: Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Cool Papa Bell, Jocko Conlan, Jim Bottomley
"The Commander" Bob Elson interviews Mickey Mantle
Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle square off on Home Run Derby
Mrs. Babe Ruth poses with Roger Maris, left, and Mickey Mantle on Babe Ruth League Day at Yankee Stadium August 16, 1961.
Minnie with Bill Skowron Nellie Fox and Mickey Mantle at 1957 All-Star game
Mickey Mantle was an inspiration to Jake
Jake gets a handshake from Mickey Mantle after a home run on June 9, 1967
Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris
Whitey Ford with teammates Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin
Whitey Ford with Mickey Mantle
Whitey with teammates Mickey Mantle and Bobby Richardson
If Mickey was healthy, would it have made a difference?
Mickey Mantle, Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra and Hank Bauer at Yankee Stadium after being named to the All-Star team in 1954
Casey with Mickey Mantle
Clubhouse celebration with Casey Stengel,Phil Rizzuto, Billy Martin, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra
Mickey Mantle, 1952
Mickey Mantle saves the Perfect Game
Mickey Mantle and Jackie Jensen
Jackie Jensen, Joe DiMaggio
Who’s the Greatest Switch-Hitter of All Time?
No-Brainer…It’s Mickey Mantle!
In a game played 69 years ago today at Comiskey Park, May 18, 1956, Mickey Mantle surpassed Rip Collins to become the all-time home run leader for switch hitters,. In the game, Mickey belted his 136th round-tripper, a two-out homer in the top of the ninth in the Yankees’ eventual extra-inning 8-7 victory over the White Sox. Before his career is over after the 1968 season, Mickey will nearly quadruple the mark, extending the record to 536.
Reading about this game got me thinking: Who was the greatest switch-hitter of all time? On some baseball all-time lists, it’s difficult to figure out who to put in the top spot. This is not one of those lists. That Mickey Mantle was the greatest switch-hitter of all time is actually a no-brainer.
Just a few highlights from his great career:
Mickey played his entire career with the Yankees (1951-68) and was unquestionably one of the greatest baseball players of all time. A 16-season All-Star, Mantle was a three-time Most Valuable Player, won the 1956 Triple Crown, and was a member of twelve pennant winners and seven World Series championships. Over his injury-plagued, 18-season career, Mickey hit .298 with ten seasons at .300 or above. He had 2415 hits, with 1676 runs scored, 536 home runs (the most ever for a switch-hitter), 1509 RBIs, a .421 on-base percentage (19th all-time), and a .557 career slugging percentage (20th all-time). In addition, his 174 career OPS+ mark is the highest of any centerfielder and places him among the most elite hitters in the history of the game.
Mickey was successful 158 times out of 191 in stolen base attempts (83%). He’s the career leader (tied with Jim Thome) in walk-off home runs and holds World Series records for the most home runs (18), RBIs (40), extra-base hits (26), runs (42), walks (43), and total bases (123). Mickey was a first ballet Hall-of-Famer in 1974 and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.
Who are some of the other great switch-hitters in baseball history? Here’s a list of the Top Ten found in an MLB.com article with some commentary from the article included. See if you agree. Counting down from #10, here are the names:
10. Bernie Williams: He had 2,336 hits and was nearly a career .300 hitter, having a great peak with the Yankees, when he regularly hit 100 RBI
9. Lance Berkman: Nearly a career .300 hitter, Berkman has been an MVP candidate many seasons while putting up huge home run and RBI totals. His career OPS is far higher from the left-handed side, and his average is .307 there compared to .261 right-handed.
8. George Davis: Bill James is a big fan of nineteenth-century star George Davis. His career average was .295, but in his time with the Giants, he hit .332 and has 619 stolen bases in his career as well.
7. Frankie Frisch: A .316 career hitter and MVP winner, Frisch led the league in stolen bases, hits, and runs at least once, and he had many seasons with 10-plus triples and 100-plus RBIs.
6. Tim Raines: The stolen-base machine (808 in his career) had many All-Star appearances and over 2,600 hits in his career. He could hit home runs from either side at about the same rate.
5. Roberto Alomar: The frequent All-Star and Gold Glove winner was a career .300 hitter primarily for the Toronto Blue Jays. He was much more successful batting left-handed, hitting .314 for his career and finishing his career with more walks than strikeouts from that side.
4. Eddie Murray: No. 4 and No. 5 are practically interchangeable. Murray gets the narrow nod over Alomar thanks in part to the 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. He had little trouble hitting 30 home runs and 90 RBI in an era back when those were big numbers, and he was a perennial MVP candidate.
3. Chipper Jones: In nearly two decades in Atlanta, Chipper Jones established himself as not only one of the top third basemen of all time, but he’s easily one of the top three switch-hitters of all time. Jones won an MVP and accumulated over 2,756 hits and 468 home runs. His career batting average is .304 from the left side and .304 from the right, a testament to just how consistently great he was for the Braves.
2. Pete Rose: You could make the case for either Chipper Jones or Pete Rose at the No. 2 spot. Rose spent 25 years in the game as a switch-hitter and had over 3,000 hits batting from the left side to go along with over 1,000 batting right-handed. He was consistently great and knew how to play the game wherever he was needed.
1. Mickey Mantle: See above. No question that Mickey is Number One on this list!
-Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from Google search
Information: Excerpts edited from article, “Baseball’s 25 Greatest Switch-Hitters of All-Time,” by Dan Tylicki, March 2, 2012. Read more at: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1086995-baseballs-25-best-switch-hitters-of-all-time; and from the Mickey Mantle Wikipedia page.
We’d love to hear what you think about this or any other related baseball history topic…please leave comments below.
Photos: all found on Google search
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive. FREE BONUS for subscribing: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide.
