This Day In Baseball
History: May 14, 1967
It was on this date in 1967 that
New York Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle hit the 500th home run of his
career. The game was played on Mother’s Day and the Baltimore Orioles were in
the Bronx to play the Yanks. The O’s were looking for the sweep having won the
first two games of the series by scores of 14-0 and 5-3.
The Orioles were retired in
order in the first by Yankee starter Mel Stottlemyre, and New York struck for
three runs in the bottom of the inning. In his first at-bat, Mantle reached on
a error and would eventually score the third run of the inning.
In his second at bat in the
third, Mantle singled up the middle, but was stranded on second. His third at
bat in the fifth saw the slugger foul out to first. The O’s then struck for
four runs in the top of the sixth, knocking Stottlemyre out of the game and
took the 4-3 lead to the bottom half of the inning. But the lead was brief as
centre fielder Joe Pepitone blasted a two-run homer to put the Yanks back in
the lead, 5-4.
In the bottom of the seventh
with two out, Mantle came to the plate to face Orioles’ pitcher Stu Miller.
Mantle blasted a Miller pitch into the right field corner of the lower deck for
his historic home run, becoming the sixth player in history to reach the
milestone.
The Orioles would score a run in
the top of the eight but the Yankees held on for the 6-5 win. It was Mantle’s
fifth home run of the season. He would hit 17 more in 1967, then add another 18
more in 1968, retiring at the end of the year with career total of 536.
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