From the begining of his famous career, Mickey Mantle has had many problems, with his knees. It all began during a football practice, when he was kicked in the left shin, and soon developed ostyeomylitis. Then in a 1951 World Series game, he was running for a fly ball, and caught his cleats in a drain pipe. He was injured so badly that he was taken to a local hostpital, and had immidiate surgery. In a game in 1953, he was planting to throw, and tore his ligaments. He was side lined for 10 days, and came back to play the rest of the season, with a knee brace. June of Ô63, he ran into a chain linked fence, broke his foot, and tore cartilage, and ligaments in his knee.
By 1960, Mantle had very little cartilag left in his knees, causing him to retire, after 18 years. Even though he had such bad knees, he holds records for most home runs in a world series, and he also set a career best 536 home runs, a feat that anyone would envy.