a memorial for the mick

mickey mantle died on august 13, 1995, and the yankees quickly added a black armband to their jerseys for that day's game.  here's a getty images photo showing the players with the armband lined up in a moment of silence that day.

the following day, they added mantle's number 7 to their left sleeves in tribute.  bernie williams' 1996 bazooka card shows both, but the armband is mostly obscured due to the sleeve being upturned.

the memorial is also visible on the away grays of tony fernandez who appears on john valentin's 1996 bazooka card

it's a nice red sox-yankee rivalry double play turn

the number and armband show up on a few cards released well after 1996, too, like jack mcdowell's card from 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams

and jim leyritz's card from 2003 upper deck sweet spot classic

another example is this don mattingly card from 2004 fleer greats

which is a pretty good representation of the memorial.  however, i've got two other mattingly cards in the binder for this particular remembrance. first, this 1996 upper deck collector's choice alds card

which shows the yankee captain (presumably) during the postseason series against the mariners.  the mick's memorial is front and center on the card, plus mattingly is wearing the home pinstripes.

as i mentioned up top, the yankees did play one game with just the black armband.  i think that this 1996 topps stadium club don mattingly card

uses a photo from that game on the front, and possibly the back

but it's hard to tell. mattingly did hit two doubles in that game, so it's possible.  at any rate, i've got this card in the memorials binder as the representative for the numberless memorial.  if i ever come across another copy, i'll put it with my other donnie baseball final tributes.

mickey mantle was a 3-time mvp (he also finished 2nd in the voting 3 times), an all-star 16 times, a world champion 7 times, and he won the triple crown in 1956.  he was a first ballot hall of famer who still holds the record for most world series home runs in a career (18) and for most home runs in a season by a switch hitter (54).

a couple of months before he died, mantle received a liver transplant.  he suffered from cirrhosis as well as cancer of the liver, the former brought on by years of heavy drinking.  shortly after the transplant, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to other parts of his body.  mantle was 63 years old when he died.