The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #18 Mickey Mantle

Bursting onto the list at #18 is Yankee dynamo Mickey Mantle. Mantle’s career regular-season totals are somewhat muted by injuries, but his combination of per-game performance and playoff performance is unparalleled in history. His 172 career OPS + is the 7th most all-time and “The Mick” joins Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth as the only three players in history with at least a 172 OPS+ and 530 career home runs. He joins Barry Bonds and Mike Trout as the only three players in history with at least a 172 OPS+ and 150 career stolen bases. Mantle and Bonds are the only two players to debut after 1940 with a career on-base percentage of at least 420 and a slugging percentage of .557. Mantle is tied for 2nd all-time with three MVPs while also finishing runner-up three times and top-5 nine times. Mantle’s regular-season statistics are eye-popping on their own, but Mantle’s place in history really comes into perspective when we consider that he is arguably the greatest World Series performer of all time. Mantle led the Yankees to a World Series appearance in 12 of his first 14 seasons, including seven World Series titles. He holds the records for most career World Series home runs, RBIs, runs, total bases, and walks.

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