1967 Mantle 500th Home Run

The night before he hit number 500, Mickey Mantle called his wife and told her he'd try to hit one for Mother's Day.

He kept his word.

May 14, 1967. Mother's Day. Yankee Stadium, 18,872 fans. The crowd was a number that told you something about where the franchise was -- the dynasty had been gone for years, Roger Maris had been traded after 1966, and the 1967 team was on its way to 72-90, ninth in a ten-team league, twenty games behind pennant-winning Boston. Mantle was the reason anyone showed up anymore.

Three Seasons of Counting

He'd entered 1967 with 496 career home runs, and the countdown had been going on long enough to feel like an occupation. Reporters asked about it every day. "Everywhere you'd see, 'When is Mantle going to hit 500?' instead of about the team winning or losing," as contemporary press accounts noted. The milestone had outgrown the season.

By then, Mantle was 35 and playing in constant pain. The knee injuries that had accumulated across his career -- torn ligaments, multiple surgeries, years of tape and playing through things that would have ended most men -- had forced him off center field and onto first base, a position he'd never played professionally before that spring. He was doing it because it was the only way he could still play, and he was still playing because there was still something left to finish.

Home runs 497, 498, and 499 came in late April and early May -- Jack Sanford and Minnie Rojas of the California Angels absorbed two of them in quick succession, and Dave Boswell of the Twins gave up number 499 on May 3 at Metropolitan Stadium. For eleven days after that, nothing.

Bottom of the Seventh

Then came Stu Miller.

Miller was a 39-year-old right-hander who'd spent sixteen years in the majors by throwing slow. His repertoire -- described in print as "moth and butterfly," a changeup that arrived at the plate like it had reconsidered the whole idea somewhere around second base -- had outlasted harder men by a decade. He was finishing his last year with Baltimore (he'd make one final appearance with the Braves in 1968 before being released, closing out a 16-year career). Two weeks earlier, he'd contributed to the first combined no-hitter in the majors in fifty years. 1967 had already been a historically eventful spring for Stu Miller, just not this kind of eventful.

Bottom of the 7th. Two outs. Yankees leading 5-4. Miller fell behind Mantle 3-2.

He threw the changeup.

Mantle turned on it left-handed, as he always did against right-handers, and drove it into the right-field lower deck -- the right-field corner of the Stadium. The Yankees led 6-4. They held on to win 6-5.

"It felt like when you win a World Series," Mantle said afterward. "A big load off your back."

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When Mantle jogged around the bases, he joined a club that had five members: Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, and Willie Mays. That was it. In the history of professional baseball, only five men had ever done what Mantle just did. He became the sixth -- and the first switch-hitter in the club's history.

Two months later, on July 14, Eddie Mathews of the Houston Astros hit number 500 to become the seventh. The club gained two members in the same summer.

Joe Pepitone's Bat

He did it with borrowed lumber.

At some point before the at-bat, Mantle had picked up a bat belonging to Joe Pepitone rather than one of his own. (Pepitone had just hit a two-run shot earlier in the game to put the Yankees up 5-4 and, according to multiple accounts, handed the bat to Mantle telling him there was another home run left in it.) One of the most personally anticipated milestones in franchise history, and he got there with a teammate's bat.

Mantle didn't seem troubled by the logistics.

Mantle finished 1967 with 22 home runs, a .245 average, and 55 RBI in 144 games -- still leading the team in home runs, OBP, and slugging despite everything his body had been through. He played two more seasons and retired before 1969, finishing with 536 career home runs. The Baseball Hall of Fame inducted him on the first ballot in 1974 -- 88.2% of the vote, which, knowing the writers, was the closest thing to a unanimous decision they could manage.

The promise he'd made to his wife on Mother's Day Eve, he kept.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who gave up Mickey Mantle's 500th home run?

Stu Miller, a right-handed reliever for the Baltimore Orioles. Miller was a 16-year veteran known for his changeup who was finishing his final season in Baltimore. He threw a 3-2 changeup that Mantle drove into the right-field lower deck at Yankee Stadium on May 14, 1967.

When did Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run?

May 14, 1967 -- Mother's Day. The game was played at Yankee Stadium against the Baltimore Orioles. The home run came in the bottom of the 7th inning with two outs, giving the Yankees a 6-4 lead. Final score: Yankees 6, Orioles 5.

Was Mickey Mantle the first switch-hitter to hit 500 home runs?

Yes. When Mantle hit number 500, he became the sixth player to reach the milestone -- and the first switch-hitter in the club's history. The five members before him were Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, and Willie Mays.

Whose bat did Mickey Mantle use for his 500th home run?

Joe Pepitone's. Mantle borrowed a bat from his teammate that day rather than using his own. Pepitone had hit a two-run home run earlier in the same game with the bat, then handed it to Mantle. It's one of the more ironic details in Yankee history -- one of the most personally anticipated milestones in franchise history, hit with borrowed equipment.

How many career home runs did Mickey Mantle hit?

536. He hit his 500th on May 14, 1967, and continued to play through the 1968 season before retiring before 1969. At retirement, 536 ranked 3rd all-time in MLB history.