Merlyn Mantle (née Johnson; January 28, 1932 – August 10, 2009) was an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

Early life

Mantle was born in

Cardin Cardin is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alberto Cardín (1948–1992), Spanish essayist and anthropologist * Annie Cardin (born 1938), French artist *Arthur Cardin (1879–1946), Canadian politician *Ben Cardin (born 1943), ...

in Ottawa County in far northeastern Oklahoma. She was the first of two daughters born to Giles and Reba Johnson. She had a sister, Pat, who was three years her junior."Sports authority hopes to save home for Mickey Mantle collection"
''Jopling Lobe''. January 29, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2011. While attending high school, she met Mickey Mantle two years before his debut in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. Mickey was a baseball player at Commerce High School, while Merlyn was a cheerleader at the rivaling Picher High School. Their first date took place at a movie theater along the famed Route 66 in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Oklahoma.

Marriage and family

On December 23, 1951, Merlyn married Mantle, following his rookie season with the

. The couple had four sons: Mickey, Jr. ( – December 20, 2000), David (born ), Billy ( – March 12, 1994), and Danny (born ). They remained married for 43 years, until Mantle's death in 1995, although they were estranged during his final years. Mantle died of liver cancer on August 13, 1995. Their son, Billy, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, but died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in 1994, aged 36. Another son, Mickey Jr., died of

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of hematological malignancy, blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include lymphadenopathy, enlarged lymph nodes, fever ...

in 2000, aged 47. Merlyn Mantle was treated for

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

at the

Betty Ford Clinic The Betty Ford Center (BFC) is a non-profit, residential treatment center for persons with substance dependence in Rancho Mirage, California. It offers inpatient, outpatient, and residential day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions, ...

, a problem which also afflicted her husband and three of her sons. In an interview with the '' New York Daily News'' shortly after her husband's death in 1995, Merlyn Mantle spoke of the negative impact that alcohol had over her family's life: "I was in there partying and doing the same thing as Mick. That was our life and I was part of it; I can't deny that. It ruins families." In 1996, Merlyn co-wrote a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

of Mickey Mantle's life entitled ''Hero All His Life''. The book was co-written with her sons, Danny Mantle and David Mantle, and writer

Mickey Herskowitz Milton Leon "Mickey" Herskowitz (born April 4, 1933 in Houston, Texas) is an American journalist and biographer. He has written more than 50 books and has published autobiographies with several athletes. He was a sportswriter and columnist for t ...

. Merlyn Mantle and Greer Johnson, Mickey Mantle's

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and former live-in aide, became involved in a

legal dispute A legal case is in a general sense a dispute between opposing parties which may be resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case is typically based on either Civil law (common law), civil or criminal law. In most legal ca ...

over the rights to auction off Mickey Mantle's possessions in 1997. The two sides reached a settlement, ensuring the sale of some of Mickey Mantle's belongings for approximately $500,000. Merlyn Mantle's last public appearance was on August 5, 2008, at a dinner for the

memorial service A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

of former Yankees player

Bobby Murcer Bobby Ray Murcer (May 20, 1946 – July 12, 2008) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1965 and 1983. He played the majority of his career for the New York Yankees, whom he later ...

. She was unable to attend Murcer's service the following morning because of health issues.

Death

Merlyn Mantle died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

at a hospice in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

, on August 10, 2009, at the age of 77. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. She was interred next to her husband and two sons at Dallas's Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mantle, Merlyn 1932 births 2009 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Texas 20th-century American women writers Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Writers from Oklahoma Writers from Dallas People from Ottawa County, Oklahoma Burials at Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery Neurological disease deaths in Texas 21st-century American women