Clint Frazier may have never actually wanted the Yankees to unretired Mickey Mantle’s number, but he still found a way to honor the franchise legend with his own attire.
Frazier stepped into the Yankees’ Zoom room following Wednesday’s spring training game against the Blue Jays sporting a new shirt, one with a swinging Mantle on the front with the words “Mickey Mantle…the greatest switch hitter.”
Clint Frazier stopped in Troll City on his way to the park today. pic.twitter.com/MxfW7btFjM
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) March 17, 2021
“I just found out he’s a switch hitter,” Frazier laughed, possibly trolling (but maybe not). “Didn’t know that until I read the shirt.”
Frazier found himself in some unwarranted controversy in his early days with the Yanks, when a report that the then No. 2 prospect in the Yankees system had asked the team to unretired Mantle’s number seven, a report that was swiftly extinguished by the Yankees and Frazier.
Frazier then turned heads back to the Mantle saga when he switched his uniform number to 77 after David Robertson returned to the team in a trade with the White Sox in 2017. Frazier voluntarily returned Robertson’s old number 30 and took 77, but it wasn’t a nod to Mantle. Instead, Frazier said it was meant to add to the team’s current outfield dynamic, which had Aaron Judge and his number 99 across the grass in right field.
Frazier was swinging like Mantle on Tuesday, ripping another home run as part of a three-hit day as he prepares for his first season as the regular starting left fielder.
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