Telling stories is a tradition in hunting. Almost every hunter has a few hilarious tales to tell about time in the field with friends and family. The story hits a little harder when you're talking about baseball legends Billy Martin and Micky Mantle. In 1987, Martin was on "Late Night with David Letterman," and he told a hilarious story about deer hunting with Mantle when he was the manager of the Texas Rangers.
It's well known that Mantle was quite the prankster. But this story is a bit wilder than some of the other Mantle stories you may have heard. It starts with Mantle asking permission to hunt a rancher's property in Texas, and (if you believe the story) it ends with Martin having to shell out about $800 in damages to the rancher. We won't spoil it for those who haven't heard the story before.
Billy Martin tells an amazing story on "Late Night with David Letterman" about a prank Mickey Mantle supposedly played on him while they were hunting! (1987) #MLB #Yankees #Baseball #History pic.twitter.com/jBRsmu30uS
— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) January 5, 2023
The big question is whether this crazy tale of Mantle tricking Martin into shooting two of the farmer's cows is true or not. We certainly hope Martin didn't really shoot a couple of cows. At the same time, Mantle built up a legendary reputation for pranks, especially when he was drinking. And, we've got to admit, Martin seems rather sincere and embarrassed by the whole thing. And, for what it's worth, Mantle repeated the tale in several interviews without much deviation from Martin's story.
Plenty of people think it's just too wild of a backfiring prank to be true. A few other commentators on Twitter noted that legendary stand-up comedian Jerry Clower used to tell a similar bit, if not the same exact tale. We're not sure if Mantle and Martin cooked this tale up together or if they borrowed Clower's bit—but true or not, it is a hunting story with a darn near perfect punchline from two of baseball's greats.
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