"RIDE BACK HOME"

“God gave me everything and I blew it. For all of you kids out there don’t be like me,” said Mickey Mantle giving what would be his last press conference before dying of liver cancer. Mickey Mantle, after a life of booze, adulterous women and hard livin’ had finally come to know Jesus as his personal Savior and immediately he wanted to let kids know of his failure as a role model.

Mickey was born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma and raised about an hour north of there in Commerce, Oklahoma. Mickey’s dad Elvin “Mutt” Mantle was a miner who worked hard, drank hard but always made time for Mickey, his three brothers and sister. Few people realize two of Mickey’s brothers were twins who also played professional baseball but did not have the success Mickey did.

“Mutt” was also an avid fan of Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity who was a superstar baseball pitcher and had worked in the mines like he did. Ironically, the great “Iron Man” is buried in McAlester, Oklahoma’s Oakhill Cemetery. “Iron Man” and his brothers had worked in the old Krebs, OK Number Eleven Coal Mine and almost died in that mine’s tragic disaster which exploded killing more than 100 miners in 1892. The incident spurred Joe to pursue a baseball career.

While working at the Krebs mines, “Iron Man” met and married a McAlester girl named Mary Redpath who is also buried next to her husband in Oakhill Cemetery.

Mickey adored his dad, often saying “no boy ever loved his dad more than I loved mine.” Mickey’s dad made a point to practice with Mickey every day after work. Mantle batted left-handed against his father when he practiced pitching to him right-handed and he batted right-handed against his grandfather when he practiced throwing to him left-handed. Little did they realize they were teaching a boy who would become the best switch hitter baseball has ever seen.

Mickey Mantle has been voted as one of the top ten best baseball players of all time. He was that good. Unfortunately, no one will ever know how good he really was. Mickey never played a game drunk but he played many games with a severe hangover and once hit three home runs in a single game.

Mickey’s drinking and carousing buddies was the great Yankee pitcher, Whitey Ford and famed football player, Pat Summerall. Mickey and Summerall shared the same locker in different seasons. Mickey in baseball and Summerall with the Giants in football. Yet, another close friend of Mickey’s was teammate Bobby Richardson, who Mickey referred to as his “lily white Christian connection.”

Mickey was loved by Yankee and baseball fans. He always made time for autographs, photos and kids. Mickey was also a jokester, and most people didn’t know he had the best knuckleball in baseball. Anytime a rookie came up, Mickey and Whitey would tell him they'd give him $100 if they could catch three of Mickey's knuckleballs in a row. So Jake Gibbs had come up as a rookie, he was also a football player, a Heisman Trophy candidate out of the University of Mississippi. He caught Mickey's first knuckleball, but the second danced right around his glove and hit him right in the nose and broke it. Gibbs had to sit out that year.

Bobby and Mickey were Yankee teammates for 11 years and remained very good friends after baseball. Bobby, almost immediately began witnessing to Mickey about being saved. The other Yankee teammates would tease Bobby daily asking if he had saved Mickey yet.

Little did anyone know, especially Mickey, that Bobby’s persistent witnessing along with former NBA basketball superstar “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s personal testimony would lead Mickey to making his “deathbed conversion” to Christ a few weeks before succumbing to cancer after an unsuccessful liver transplant.

Mantle believed that alcoholism came from both his mother and father's side of the family. He undoubtedly spread it to his own children. Mickey admitted that he was more “The Mick” to his kids than “Dad.” His four sons were his drinking buddies. All four of Mickey Mantle’s sons did time in rehab, all inherited his lust for liquor.

Late in life, he lamented his relationship with his kids, wondering if he had squandered his own kids’ athletic abilities because he was too often at a bar instead of in the backyard throwing batting practice. Mantle’s wife, Merlyn, tried to keep up with her husband’s drinking and, like Mantle, ended up at the Betty Ford Center.

When Mickey learned he had liver cancer and needed a transplant, he immediately called Bobby Richardson telling him he needed him to pray for him. Bobby jumped on an airplane and arrived at the hospital where Mickey had just heard Pete Maravich’s Christian testimony.

"I walked into the medical center and Mickey had a smile on his face. He said, 'I can't wait to tell you this. I've accepted Christ as my savior." Richardson was stunned. He recalled sharing his love of God with Mantle over the years, but he knew at the time that Mantle just wasn't ready. "I said, 'Mickey lets go over this and make sure you understand."

When Richardson shared the information with Mickey and his wife, she also accepted Christ.

Whether you are a beautician, backhoe operator, lawyer or the best professional baseball player to walk onto the field, life without Christ leaves the soul aching for God. We try to satisfy this aching with booze, prescription drugs, illegal drugs, sexual debaucheries or a host of other dissolute behaviors but God made our soul for Him and only Him. (Psalms 42:11)

Like Mickey Mantle’s disastrous impact on his four sons, the casualties of our debaucheries and ungodliness usually ravage those we love. We act like we have one foot in Hell and thirst for the misery loves company routine so others will feel as loathsome as we do.

Some people question the “deathbed salvation” but once again, the Almighty upstairs knew that us thick headed sinners would need an example so He teaches us referencing the two swindlers crucified with Jesus. The repentant thief (Dismas) asked Jesus to remember him in paradise while the unrepentant thief (Gestas) mocked Jesus. (Luke 23:39-43)

Crucified and hanging on a cross is as close to death as it gets so God’s Good Book is clear and concise as it plainly states “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13, Acts 2:21) Dismas met Jesus at the Pearly Gates that day and joined Him in paradise. Doesn’t matter if you are a crackhead, loggerhead, egghead, skinhead or a figurehead because when God promises anyone who calls on the Lord shall be saved, He means anyone and at anytime. This includes the last days on a deathbed for anyone at anyplace and under any circumstance. God wants us all in Heaven with Him. (2 Peter 3:9)

I believe God wanted Mickey to make it to heaven. If Mickey had an instantaneous death by a car crash or massive heart failure, Mickey would be demanding a “non-smoking” area instead of walking the streets paved with gold. Waiting until the last breath on your deathbed to be saved is an insane risk no one should take because tomorrow is not promised to any of us. (Proverbs 27:1, James 4:14)

So, if you watch the World Series tonight, remember that a Christian holds the record for the most World Series home runs and that Christian is Mickey Mantle.

Heavenly Father, thank You for saving anyone at anytime in any situation if they call upon the Lord. Your unlimited love and forgiveness to save any and all who call upon the Lord is hard to fully comprehend but we know You made us a massive 5,467 promises and they all have come true. Lord, let us use America’s favorite pastime and Mickey Mantle’s deathbed conversion to witness to any and all that You want all of us to enjoy eternal life by Jesus giving us “A Ride Back Home.”