Mickey Mantle died 29 years ago this week.

The fact that it has been 29 years is mind boggling to me, and maybe to you too.

Mickey was easily one of the most beloved baseball players of his generation, and among the greatest players of all time.

He was deeply flawed.

He was an alcoholic, a womaniser, had health issues that couldn’t keep him on the field.

But Mickey seemed to be almost a mythic figure, especially if you were of a certain age and lived or rooted for New York, the city, and the Yankees.

As great a player as Aaron Judge is, I don’t think Judge is held in the same affection as Mickey was. Its a different time, perhaps..

Some of it was the times, a more innocent time, a time when personal foibles weren’t talked about in the press or in public.

But there was something else about Mickey. As Bob Costas once said in Mickey’s eulogy, “he wasn’t a role model, but he was a hero.”

Heroes can be flawed, and mortal and sometimes even controversial.

Mickey was admired but he was also beloved.

The fans loved his “aw shucks” personality, and country boy demeanor.

I had the pleasure of knowing Mickey pretty well.He wasn’t sophisticated or particularly articulate, but he could be funny and self effacing. In a way, he came off honest and real, if not always a moral example of virtue.

But when he got sober, Mickey Mantle became something else.

He became a figure of truth.

As an interviewer, more than anything else, I look for truth in a subject .

Mickey was finally truthful, about his life, and his regrets.

Mickey knew his career and life were ruined by alcohol addiction, and he also admitted he wasn’t a very good husband and father.

Mickey gave me the most honest and raw interview just before he died.

It was an interview I did with him in his hotel room in San Francisco,

I remember he took out the mini-bar in his room to avoid the temptation of drinking, and for much of the next hour I spoke to him, Mickey was as authentic in what he said as any athlete I ever spoke to.

The last time I saw Mickey Mantle alive he was at the Baylor medical Center. He saw me from the podium and winked at me. His face was drawn, the ravages of cancer was taking its toll. But when he looked at me, he smiled as if to say “can you believe I’m 63 years old, and I may not make 64?”

He didnt.

I was never a Yankee fan as a kid, but as an adult I grew to love Mickey Mantle.

Because in the end, for all his flaws, indiscretions and his self abuse, he was a man who had the courage to stand tall and admit his shortcomings.

Heres part of one of the most moving interviews I ever conducted..and its was an American hero, Mickey Mantle.

I sure miss you, Mick.

Wish you were here.