Mickey Mantle Jr. Played Through Pain

DALLAS - Mickey Mantle taught his sons to play through pain, and that's what Mickey Mantle Jr. was doing when his family finally convinced him to see a doctor.

The diagnosis was cancer, the same disease that killed his father, youngest brother, grandfather and great-grandfather. This time, though, it was a different form - melanoma, a type of skin cancer.

Mickey Jr., 45, had at least three tumors varying from the size of a quarter to a dime removed from his neck in August. He has undergone 36 radiation treatments and is recovering well, his brother, David, said yesterday.

"Mickey's kind of quiet, like Dad was. If he's hurting, he won't tell you and he won't go to the doctor unless he really has to," David said. "Dad always said you have to take the pain, but you can only do it for so long."

Mickey Mantle died of liver cancer in August 1995 at age 63. His youngest son, Billy, had Hodgkin's disease, a lymphatic cancer, before dying of a heart attack in 1994 at age 36.

Mantle's father died at 41 from Hodgkin's disease; his grandfather and an uncle were both 40 when they died of the same ailment.

David Mantle said the family noticed for more than six months that Mickey Jr. was losing weight - he dropped to an estimated 145 pounds from around 190.

The Hall of Famer's oldest son was having trouble swallowing. The tumor was very close to his throat, forcing the 45-year-old Mantle to be fed intravenously after the operation, said family attorney Wayne Miller.

"He's now eating pretty much solid food, so that has brought a lot of comfort to him," Miller said.

Mickey Jr. wasn't willing to be examined until lumps in his neck began protruding.

"That's what really got him worried," David said.

In recent years, Mickey Jr. had several cancerous lumps removed from his legs, arms, ears and skull, but none as serious as the ones in his neck, David said. This was the first time he'd received radiation.

David said a CAT scan last month showed his brother to be cancer-free.

"My main concern is that it might come back," he said. "He was clean then, but I think he should go back and get another."

Mickey Jr. has gained a few pounds and felt well enough to drive with his 9-year-old daughter to and from Missouri for Thanksgiving.

Miller said the family has received many well-wishers since the operation.

"It's been very gratifying the outpouring of support and concern we've heard from around the country," he said. "Mickey and his family still have a lot of goodwill."

Miller said the surgery forced Mickey Jr. to put away his golf clubs for a while.

"They had to cut into the muscle on top of his shoulder, so his golf swing is severely impaired," Miller said. "He'll have to undergo therapy, but there's enough muscle remaining where he can recuperate. It'll never be as strong as it was before, though."

However, Mickey Jr. hoped to play golf this week, David said.

Mickey Jr. and David work together at the Mickey Mantle Foundation, along with brother Danny. They all also help their mother, Merlyn, with their father's estate.

Mickey Jr., the Hall of Famer's oldest son, was the only one who played professional baseball, spending several years in the minor-league organizations of the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers.

A switch-hitting center fielder just like his dad, Mickey Jr. could never live up to expectations.

"I think the pressure got to him," David said. "But I tell you, he could hit it maybe not as far as dad - nobody could - but almost. He was a natural-born athlete, just like Dad."

Many of their father's former teammates and their families have called or written Mickey Jr., including Whitey Ford and the children of Roger Maris.

"Mickey won't admit it, but he likes people calling and asking if he's OK," David said. "I think it comforted Mom the most. She lost a son and then Dad a year later and she was thinking, `Not another son.' "