April 17, 1951. Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, 44,860 people in the seats, Boston in the other dugout. Mickey Mantle was 19 years old, batting third, playing right field, and wearing No. 6 for the New York Yankees. He went 1-for-4 with an RBI single in a 5-0 win. Three months later, the club shipped him to Kansas City.
Both halves of that sentence matter. The debut is the famous part. The demotion is the part that made him.
A Shortstop Nobody Wanted at Shortstop
Two years earlier, Tom Greenwade had signed Mantle out of Commerce, Oklahoma as a shortstop. The Yankees spent the spring of 1951 in Phoenix -- the only spring they ever trained in Arizona -- and when Mantle showed up that February, Casey Stengel decided the kid's future wasn't at shortstop and moved him to the outfield. Tommy Henrich, freshly retired and coaching, got the job of teaching him how to play it.
Then Mantle hit .402 that spring, with a club-leading nine home runs and 31 RBI. Any talk of another year of minor league seasoning didn't survive the spring.
There was a second storyline in camp, and it was the one the writers had come to cover. Joe DiMaggio was 36 and hurting, and early that spring he told reporters this would likely be his last season. So the Yankees opened 1951 with the Clipper in center field and his probable replacement standing one position over. (Subtle, this franchise wasn't. Ruth wore 3, Gehrig 4, DiMaggio 5. The kid got 6.)
The Afternoon
The Stadium had a new voice that day, too. Bob Sheppard worked his first game as the public address announcer, and the first name he ever read over the Stadium speakers was DiMaggio -- Dom, Boston's center fielder. Sheppard and Mantle shared an October 20 birthday. They'd both stick around a while.
Stengel penciled in Phil Rizzuto second, Mantle third, DiMaggio cleanup, and Yogi Berra fifth. A teenager with zero big league at-bats hitting in front of DiMaggio. I'm not sure there's a better summary of how the organization felt about him.
Lefty Bill Wight started for Boston and kept Mantle hitless until the sixth. That inning, with Jackie Jensen on third and Rizzuto on first, Mantle lined a single into left. Jensen scored. First hit, first RBI, and before the day was out, first run scored.
Vic Raschi did the rest, scattering six hits in a 5-0 shutout. The whole thing took two hours and 12 minutes. Nobody walked out of the Bronx thinking they'd seen a legend born. They'd seen a nice single.
Kansas City
The first home run came two weeks later, on May 1 at Comiskey Park, off Chicago's Randy Gumpert. The strikeouts kept coming. By mid-July Mantle was hitting .260 and swinging through everything, and after a three-strikeout game against Cleveland on July 13, the Yankees optioned him to the Triple-A Kansas City Blues.
It got worse before it got better. The way Mantle always told it, he managed one hit -- a bunt single -- in his first 22 at-bats for the Blues. (The Kansas City box scores are a little kinder than his memory, but not much.)
Either way, he called home to say he was done. His father, Mutt, drove up from Oklahoma, walked into the hotel room, and started packing his son's bag. By Mickey's account, Mutt said he thought he'd raised a man, not a coward.
Mickey stayed. Over 40 games in Kansas City he hit .361 with 11 home runs, and the Yankees put him back in the lineup on August 24. He came back wearing No. 7.
Six to Seven
The rest of 1951 moved fast. Mantle finished his rookie season at .267 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI in 96 games. On October 5, in Game 2 of the World Series, he pulled up on a fly ball DiMaggio had called for and caught his spikes on a drain cover. Two months after that, DiMaggio retired, and the center field job passed to a 20-year-old with a bad knee.
The debut wasn't the day Mantle arrived. It was the day the Yankees told everyone who he was supposed to be, before he knew how to be it. Kansas City was where he figured that part out.
He'd walked onto that field in No. 6 as the next link in the chain. Eighteen years later, the Yankees retired No. 7.
| Date | April 17, 1951 -- Opening Day |
| Result | Yankees 5, Red Sox 0, at Yankee Stadium |
| Attendance | 44,860 |
| Mantle's Spot | Batting third, right field, No. 6 |
| Mantle's Line | 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI |
| First Hit | RBI single to left off Bill Wight, 6th inning |
| Winning Pitcher | Vic Raschi (six-hit shutout) |
| Kansas City Blues (1951) | .361, 11 HR in 40 games |
| 1951 Yankees Totals | .267, 13 HR, 65 RBI in 96 games |
Arrival in Phoenix
Mantle reports to the Yankees' only Arizona spring training. Stengel moves him from shortstop to the outfield, and Tommy Henrich starts teaching him the position.
Major League Debut
Batting third and playing right field, Mantle goes 1-for-4 with an RBI single off Bill Wight as Raschi shuts out Boston 5-0. Bob Sheppard works his first game on the PA the same afternoon.
First Home Run
Mantle hits the first of his 536 home runs at Comiskey Park, off White Sox reliever Randy Gumpert.
Sent to Kansas City
Hitting .260 and striking out constantly, Mantle gets optioned to the Triple-A Kansas City Blues. A visit from his father keeps him from quitting.
Back in the Bronx Lineup
After hitting .361 with 11 home runs in 40 games for the Blues, Mantle returns to the Yankees wearing No. 7.
World Series Knee Injury
In Game 2 against the Giants, Mantle's spikes catch a drain cover in right field. He doesn't play again in the Series.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Mickey Mantle make his major league debut?
Mantle debuted on April 17, 1951, Opening Day at Yankee Stadium against the Boston Red Sox. He was 19, batted third, played right field, and wore No. 6. The Yankees won 5-0 behind a six-hit shutout from Vic Raschi.
How did Mickey Mantle do in his first game?
He went 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. His first big league hit was a sixth-inning single to left off Boston lefty Bill Wight that scored Jackie Jensen.
Why was Mickey Mantle sent to the minors in 1951?
Mantle was hitting .260 and striking out often, so the Yankees optioned him to the Triple-A Kansas City Blues in mid-July. After a rough start there, he hit .361 with 11 home runs in 40 games and rejoined the Yankees on August 24.
What number did Mickey Mantle wear as a rookie?
He opened 1951 wearing No. 6, following Ruth's 3, Gehrig's 4, and DiMaggio's 5. When he came back from Kansas City in August, he wore No. 7, and he kept it for the rest of his career.