Am not saying that his social/ingestion habits did not diminish his performance - MM suffered from Osteomyelitis in one leg - maybe both. He was not an Oklahoma farm kid. He was from the lead mining area around Joplin, MO.
Mantle was born on October 20, 1931, in Spavinaw, Oklahoma, the son of Lovell (née Richardson) Mantle (1904–1995)[9] and Elven Charles "Mutt" Mantle. He was of at least partial English ancestry; his great-grandfather, George Mantle, left Brierley Hill, in England's Black Country, in 1848.[10]
When Mantle was four years old, his family moved to the nearby town of Commerce, Oklahoma, where his father worked in lead and zinc mines.[9] As a teenager, Mantle rooted for the St. Louis Cardinals.[13] In addition to his first love, baseball, Mantle was an all-around athlete at Commerce High School, playing basketball as well as football. He played halfback and Oklahoma offered him a football scholarship.
