His Biggest Thrill Giclee

Description

“His Biggest Thrill” original oil painting is 48″ x 72″, and depicts what Mickey Mantle characterized as his biggest thrill in his legendary baseball career.  On Saturday, October 10, 1964, at the pinnacle of his storied professional baseball playing course, the New York Yankees, were playing the St. Louis Cardinals, with the series tied at one win apiece.   It was the bottom of the ninth inning, when 37 year old relief pitcher Barney Schultz was placed into the lineup to pitch to Mickey Mantle.   Schultz had previously had a victorious relief in game one, and was was known for his “knuckle ball”.  Mickey watched closely as Barney pitched his warmup pitches, and said to his good friend, Elston Howard, “Ellie, you won’t have to worry about batting, I’m going to knock this one out of here”…. Although Mickey wasn’t a “grandstander”, he did feel confident in his faceoff with Schultz.  And so with the score tied one to one, as the first batter in the bottom of the ninth inning in the packed Yankee Stadium, Mickey hits a home run with the first pitch, into the third tier of the outfield seats.   Although the term “walkoff” wasn’t coined yet, Mickey’s homerun wins game 3 of the 1964 world series, and becomes “His Biggest Thrill”…