Eff Yogi

Turns out that the autographed baseball everyone was talking about earlier this week was purchased by someone close to the Mick:

On Monday, we told you the story of the Mickey Mantle baseball that was signed “F**k Yogi. Before putting it in their upcoming auction, the folks at Grey Flannel Auctions tried to sell it first for $2,750.

And sell it they did.

Although Richard Russek, president of Grey Flannel, declined to comment, a source told us that the Mantle family purchased the ball, presumably in order to make sure it didn’t get into the hands of a collector. Had it not sold by Friday, the ball would have entered the auction with a $1,000 reserve price.

Not sure why they care, exactly. It’s not as if this sort of thing being out in circulation is actually going to have a negative impact on Mantle’s legacy. Indeed, he pretty much has it made in this regard. The man’s a demigod, and nothing short of a closet Nazi affiliation is ever going to tarnish his image among fans. There could be 820 autographed balls, each with something more vulgar than the last, and people will still love the Mick.


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Andy L
15 years ago

Yeah, I’m not sure why people would care.  Even I love Mickey Mantle, and I’m a Red Sox fan.

Adam
15 years ago

If anything, the fact this ball exists makes me appreciate Mick and his era even more.  If a player signed a ball with that message today it would be on Sportscenter and discussed on every radio show tomorrow like it was a big deal.  “IS A-ROD CORRUPTING OUR CHILDREN THROUGH AUTOGRAPHS!!?!?!?!?!”

Adam
15 years ago

Plus this is the guy who once said “I like women with small hands, they make my…..”

Sara K
15 years ago

@ Adam – Can you imagine what trivially controversial things A-Rod *would* write on a secret baseball?  “Gammons is a doody-head” or maybe “Mr. Alex Jeter <3 <3 <3”?

J. McCann
15 years ago

The Mick was the best player of all time.  Look at the level of competition he dominated in the 50’s and 60’s, plus all those championships.

All these drinking and carousing stories only give the legend more flavor.  His only flaw that I see is that he wasn’t the best husband.

rufuswashere
15 years ago

Slight disagreement … Yes, many worship the Mick (obviously me), but hasn’t he been one of those guys who from a sabermetric perspective turned out to be even better than we knew? 

Plus, his off-the-field crap overshadowed his baseball skills, esp in the years before he died.  I know some casual baseball fans who only know him for the alcohol/boozing/liver cancer stuff, and who think his fame as a baseball player is only the product of the NY media.

MikeD
15 years ago

I surprised the Berra family didn’t buy it and put it in Yogi’s museum.  It was clearly a joke, and Mickey already had a bit of a reputation, so I agree with Craig here why anyone would care.  If anything, it’s more a positive if you look at it from the humourous side. 

Now if someone can find a ball that Babe Ruth signed that said F**K Gehrig, that would be worth money!

hossrex
15 years ago

Yeah!  Another effort to take the “character” out of baseball, and America in general.

Does anyone think “the game” is better for players simply spouting Crash Davis 101 (“it was a team effort”, “we’re just taking it one game at a time”) over and over again?

Back then we still saw the players *somewhat* as they were.  Sure they were protected by the sports writers (and how bizarre is *THAT* when considered in today’s environment), but we still saw these people as they were, instead of expecting them all ot be robots.

I think it’s foolish to say things like “the players were better back them”, but I think it’s the absolute truth to say “the *GAME* was better back then”.

Why not look at all the things that have changed since then, and simply change back?  Oh.  That’s right.  This terribly broken game today is more profitable, and every day Bug Selig can go without admitting he slaughtered the golden goose, is another day the average fan (i.e. not anyone reading this comment) doesn’t realize the goose is dead.

Sadly…  the goose *IS* dead.

It died during one of the three previous players strikes.  I’ll leave it to personal preference to determine *WHICH* strike killed it.