Did you know that Mickey Mantle once said, "Hitting the ball was easy. Running around the bases was the hard part?" However, even "Muscles" once had a brief slump early in his career which was described in Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes (Page 369):

The son of a miner from Oklahoma, Mantle was led to baseball at an early age by his father. But he struggled with the Yankees and was sent down to their farm team in Kansas City, where he went 0 for 22 in a strong slump. He called his father saying, "I don't think I can play baseball anymore." The next day his father appearead unannounced in Mantle's hotel room and started packing a suitcase, jamming Mantle's clothes into it. Asked what he was doing, Mantle's father told him, "Your're going home. You're going to work in the mines, that's what we'll do. You can work back down there." Shocked, Mantle bounced back out of his slump, hitting .360 for Kansas City and returning to the Yankees. Looking back years later, he said, "That was the turning point of my life."

On May 14, 1967, Mickey Mantle hit career home run number 500 and became the first switch-hitter to join the 500 Home Runs Club. Join Baseball Almanac as we take a look at some additional numbers of interest as they relate to the most prolific switch hitter in history:

.421 - Mickey Mantle finished his career with a .421 on-base percentage - the Major League record for highest on-base percentage by a switch hitter in a career. In 1957, Mantle had a career high .521 OBP - the Major League record for highest on-base percentage by a switch hitter in a single season.

.557 - Mickey Mantle finished his career with a .557 slugging average - the Major League record for highest slugging average by a switch hitter in a career. In 1956, Mantle had a career high .705 slugging average - the Major League record for highest slugging average by a switch hitter in a single season.

7 - Mickey Mantle wore #6 when he made his big league debut with the Bronx Bombers, changed to #7, and on Mickey Mantle Day, at Yankee Stadium, June 8, 1969, The Mick's #7 was retired and he was a given a bronze plaque to be hung on the center field wall near the monuments to Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Miller Huggins. After its presentation by Joe DiMaggio, Mantle gave a similar plaque to DiMaggio, telling the crowd, "Joe DiMaggio's deserves to be higher." In response, Joltin Joe's plaque was hung one inch higher than Mantle's.

12 - Mickey Mantle is often associated with home runs, but on July 23, 1957, he showed his ability to hit singles, doubles, triples and home runs - completing the twelfth cycle in franchise history for the New York Yankees.

52 - Mickey Mantle hit 52 home runs in 1956, a total that led every hitter from both leagues. His .353 batting average and 130 RBIs also led both leagues and "The Mick" became the second Yankee to win the Triple Crown (Lou Gehrig won it first in 1934), the first and only switch-hitter to win a Triple Crown, and he won the first of three Most Valuable Player Awards - this one was unanimous, the first time any Bronx Bomber won it unanimously (and still the only instance by a Yankee).

54 - Mickey Mantle hit 54 home runs in 1961 - the Major League record for most home runs in a single season by a switch-hitter. Thirty, of the fifty-four, were hit on the road, which is also in the record books for most home runs in a single season hit on the road by a switch hitter.

146 - Mickey Mantle was walked 146 times in 1957, the most bases on balls awarded a switch-hitter during a single season in Major League history.

536 - Mickey Mantle hit 536 home runs during his career and is the American League record holder for most home runs in a career by a switch hitter. His National League counterpart is Chipper Jones, with 468.

2,401 - Mickey Mantle wore pinstripes in 2,401 games, the franchise record for games played as a New York Yankee. On August 28, 2011, Derek Jeter passed The Mick and finished his career the new all-time leader with 2,747 regular season games played - the most in New York Yankees' history.