Mickey Mantle statue slated for unveiling

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Roger Burkybile, with Neece Concrete Construction, attends to a detail in the construction of a base that will hold the new Mickey Mantle statue in Commerce. The unveiling of the statue is scheduled for Saturday, June 5, at Mantle Field. Globe/Gary Crow

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May 15, 2010

By Andy Ostmeyer Globe Metro Editor The Joplin Globe Sat May 15, 2010, 11:18 PM CDT

COMMERCE, Okla. — A statue of the Commerce Comet will be unveiled at exactly 6:07 p.m. on Saturday, June 12, at Mickey Mantle Field in Commerce.

Why 6:07 p.m.?

“When he first came up, he was number 6,” Brian Waybright said of Mantle. “Then he made No. 7 famous.”

Waybright is director of the Mickey Mantle Classic, which is a high school baseball tournament held every April and played with wooden bats. He also is a former Commerce baseball coach and a member of the Mickey Mantle Trust.

“It weighs 900 pounds and it’s 9 feet tall, and it will be sitting on a base that is 5 feet tall,” Waybright said of the statue.

Mantle was born in 1931 in Spavinaw and four years later moved with his family to Commerce, where he grew up and became a standout high school athlete. Mantle’s father worked in the mines in Picher.

Mickey also played for the Joplin Miners on his way to becoming a New York Yankees legend.

The statue was done from a cast of an original made by the artist Nick Calcagno, and shows Mantle, who was a power hitter from either the right or left side of the plate, finishing his swing from the right side.

One side of the statue will say Mickey Charles Mantle and the other “The Commerce Comet.”

Mantle died in 1995.

The statue cost $50,000, and the base and mounting cost another $25,000, said Waybright.

“It was a centennial project (paid for by) the state of Oklahoma,” he added.

Waybright said some of Mantle’s family will be there on June 12, and the event coincides with a reunion of Commerce High School graduates from 1945-1955. Mantle graduated in 1949, and this means a lot of his friends and classmates might be in town, Waybright said.

“I’m extremely excited,” Waybright said.

Event details may be obtained from Waybright at bwaybright@mickeymantleclassic.com, or at 918-961-6508.

Legends

The statue of Mickey Mantle that will be unveiled June 12 in Commerce, Okla., will sit behind the center field fence at Mickey Mantle Field. Mantle took over center field for the Yankees from Joe DiMaggio, and played the position much of his career.

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