This Day in Yankee History (Mantle Summons Fading Magic in Last Days of Dynasty)

Sept. 17, 1964— Mickey Mantle reached his 2,000^th career hit in the same game he recorded his 450^th home run, a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels that kept momentum going in a pennant race for the proud but aging veteran core of the New York Yankees.

With a sixth-inning single to go with a double and his milestone home run, Mantle was just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. His bat and leadership by example were proving more essential than it ever had been before, as the Bronx Bombers, in a grim portent of the future, was fending off a younger, hungrier Baltimore Orioles squad.

In third place and 4 ½ games out in mid-August—and having endured a much-publicized bus “harmonica incident” between infielder Phil Linz and manager Yogi Berra—the Yankees would go 30-13 through the rest of the season to secure their fifth straight World Series berth. But they won the pennant by only one game.

Mantle was not the only reason the team was able to survive: rookie pitcher Mel Stottlemyre, for instance, was virtually lights out when called up in October, and Roger Maris’s return to something like peak offensive form and late-season replacement for Mantle in centerfield took much of the burden off his power-hitting teammate.

But Mantle’s consistency and dominance (35 homers, 111 RBIs, .303 batting average, 1.015 OPS) throughout the season were recognized by sportswriters now in a way that finally matched how his admiring teammates had felt for years. When the season was over, he finished second in the voting for Most Valuable Player, surpassed only by Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson.

Just as the team fed off Mantle’s offensive brilliance in 1964, they collapsed when their string of injuries began to mirror his own the following season. Maris, catcher Elston Howard, shortstop Tony Kubec, and starting pitcher Jim Bouton would join Mantle on the injured list in 1965. The team would not make it back to the World Series again until 1976.

It turned out that 1964 would be the last great year for the 32-year-old Mantle. His power, batting average, and speed steadily declined over the following four seasons, only staying on because the Yankees implored him to lend his leadership to a team transitioning to youth. When he retired following the 1968 season, he was mortified that his career batting average had dipped below .300.