Mickey Mantle, Ham Lovah

This morning I caught some of Bob Costas' sit-down with Jim Bouton, author of one of my all-time slices Ball Four. Bouton told a great story about my guy, The Mick. Turns out that before a game during Bouton's rookie season Mickey was going around the locker room with a cap, collecting money for a raffle, for which the winner would get a Smithfield ham. Apparently, Mick had been blathering for days about how incredible these hams were. So Bouton, like everybody else, kicked in a few bucks and after the game when Mickey pulled a name outta the hat lo and behold, Bouton had won. So he goes to collect his ham, to which Mickey says "yeah, well, there is no ham." Bouton was bewildered like what the fuck, dude? Mickey ruefully shakes his head and tells Buoton "hey, that's one of the hazards of playing games of chance."

:)

Also a great Bouton story HERE .