Why should Yankee players and fans have to keep Mickey Mantle's open?

There was a whole to-do in the media this weekend about how the Mickey Mantle's restaurant is in financial trouble, and may have to close. They haven't paid rent for four months, and may be evicted soon. (Imagine that!)

So Bill Liederman, the former owner of the place, is trying to raise one million dollars to keep the restaurant open. He has been trying to hit up retired Yankee players like Goose Gossage and David Cone for $10,000 each, and current players as well, and seemed annoyed that they weren't jumping to do so. "Their agents just laugh," he complained about the current team.

And this morning, I heard Liederman being interviewed on 1010 WINS asking for fans to donate $1,000 or more each and "band together" and save the restaurant, because "most Yankee fans have been there." To which I say, you have got to be kidding me in expecting fans -- or anybody -- to give money for this!

I guess I missed when a restaurant with an unusable website, serving overpriced, lousy food, with terrible service from wait staff and bartenders alike (check out the reviews online for the place -- they're brutal!), became a charity. Especially when the place's owners haven't bothered to pay their rent for this entire year.

Am I supposed to be outraged that the landlord is trying to evict them? Absolutely not. He's not running a charity, either. Of all the worthwhile things that people can spend their money on, and donate their money to, and Liederman is trying to keep a tourist trap open? No thanks, I'll pass. Especially given what a jerk Liederman is. Let me explain.

I can have a long memory on things. And I remember the stunt Liederman pulled when he owned the place. In 2004, when the Boston Red Sox beat the Yankees in the ALCS, it was naturally one of the most horrible times ever for Yankee fans. So what did Liederman do? He announced that he was renaming the place from Mickey Mantle's Restaurant to Ted Williams' Restaurant through the end of the World Series. He also sold Red Sox hats in the store.

I was appalled over that, as were many, many Yankee fans, who called and showed up to complain. That was a terrible time, and to have the owner of Mickey Mantle's, whose restaurant's existence was based on Yankee fans, do such a thing was ridiculously tasteless. Way to kick your fan base in the stomach, dude.

Then Liederman had the gall to say that The Mick gave him the idea: "His spirit came to me when the game was over and said, 'Bill, let's do this for my favorite player. Let's put Ted's name up there for a week,'" Liederman told the press at the time. How ridiculous.

Since Liederman's "joke" didn't go over well with either the Yankee fan base or with the Mantle family, the sign was pulled down within a few days, and he ended up selling the place within the year.

Now he's back in the picture, trying to get Yankee fans and players to give their hard-earned money to keep it open. To which I say, why don't you hit up your beloved Red Sox Nation for donations, dude? Sell your scheme somewhere else. I ain't buying it.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Was Mickey Mantle's behavior better or worse than today's athletes?

Foxsports.com's Mark Kriegel has an interesting piece about where Mickey Mantle fits into the pantheon of bad boys in sports. The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood, Jane Leavy's new book on Mantle, talks about his drinking and serial womanizing. Make that serial groping, too -- he even once groped Leavy herself. Yikes!

Anyhow, Kriegel's point is that Mantle acted more out of control than Brett Favre or Tiger Woods, "yet Mantle remains loved and revered while Favre and Woods have become punchlines." He also argues that "unlike Favre, Mantle didn’t have to deal with TMZ or Deadspin. His misbehavior wasn’t merely tolerated; it was journalistically disappeared."

I don't think this is a good thing. In fact, I would argue that Mantle might have gotten help for his drinking if he had been held to some sort of journalistic standard. The very same media that lionized him as the golden boy, and took his side in 1961 against Roger Maris, knew what a creep Mantle could be, especially if he were boozing. Yet they didn't let their readers see that. The press even attacked "Ball Four" Jim Bouton for being the only person to dare to write that Mantle wasn't exactly a saint.

And to what end? Mantle didn't get help for his drinking until late in his life. In the meantime, he got to grope countless random women, and make a fool of himself drinking in public, with no fear it would be covered. After going to Betty Ford, he did speak out to tell others not to do what he did. But maybe Mantle would still be alive and serving as a Yankee elder statesman if he had to face some sort of accountability, whether it be through the Yankees or the press, much earlier in his life.

After all, Kriegel, the author of the great book "Namath," ought to remember that Joe Namath finally got help for his own drinking problem after he was seen drunk on national TV, trying to get Suzy Kolber to kiss him. (And how innocent that sounds as compared to Favre's creepy sexting!)

Kriegel continues:

Not only can’t you apply today’s standards to yesteryear’s heroes, you can’t apply today’s standards to today’s heroes. Not if you want heroes. The evolution of technology, journalism and popular expectations have all conspired to ensure there will be no more Mantles.


Nor will there be any Favres or Tigers or Jordans (remember, by the end, he, too, was being taken to court by one of his goumares). And you can forget about any Babes or DiMaggios.

Actually, I would argue the opposite. Even now, unless you're A-Rod, if you're a big enough star, with enough power, and the media needs access to you to do their jobs, you can get away with being a jerk for a long, long time, until 1) somebody has physical evidence on you, and 2) the MSM is willing to write about it.

Look at how long Favre and Tiger and Jordan themselves got away with it. Not forever, but long enough. And the mainstream media will help you protect that image, too. Remember, the MSM was ready to bury the Tiger Thanksgiving story when TMZ did their thing. And look at how many sportswriters (hi, Peter King!) are still trying to protect Favre.

It's hard to know whether Mantle was better or worse than other athletes of his ilk. But I do know that if his bad boy behavior had been exposed by the media at the time, he wouldn't have been able to continue his misdeeds for decades.

What do you think? Tell us about it!