1931-
Baseball Player

Career Summary.

A brief summary of Mickey Mantle's record would read something like this: New York Yankee outfielder who was one of the dominant power hitters of the 1950s and early 1960s. Blended a rare combination of speed and switch-hitting power. Won the American League Triple Crown in 1956, was three-time American League Most Valuable Player (1956, 1957, 1962), led the league in home runs four times, and played on seven World Series winning teams.

The Best.

This summary, however, would not tell the whole story. The truth is that Mantle may have been, during the 1950s, better than any player in history. At this time Mantle was a far better performer than his great National League contemporary, Willie Mays.

Sabermetricians.

Researchers who study baseball are known as sabermetricians. These researchers have more mathematical means available to compare performances among baseball players than in any other sport...