Mantle doubles faded mid career.

Whether Mickey Mantle was less than average in hitting doubles was addressed in the two previous posts.  Reviewed were:

2B/BIP (balls in play)
2B/Hits

BIP = AB - SO - HR + SF

Using that to explain Mantle's apparent lack of doubles primarily removes SO.  One way of considering that is that Mantle had an opportunity but failed.  Another way is that when Mantle had the chance to get a double he did.

Let's look at Mantle over his 18 season, 1951-1968.  But first something interesting, though unrelated, I noticed in my Mantle data:

Where	throws	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
home	L	0.323	0.414	0.552	0.966
home	R	0.294	0.435	0.579	1.014
road	L	0.338	0.436	0.598	1.034
road	R	0.271	0.404	0.522	0.926

Bunts, including Sac:

Year	Pitcher Righty	Pitcher Lefty
1951	5	2
1952	10	3
1953	3	2
1954	12	1
1955	15	1
1956	19	2
1957	13	1
1958	10	2
1959	12	0
1960	9	0
1961	4	1
1962	6	0
1963	5	0
1964	11	0
1965	11	0
1966	6	1
1967	1	0
1968	11	0
	163	16
	91.06%	8.94%

These plate appearances removed any real chance of getting anything more than a single.  In fact, I cannot recall any batter getting an extra base hit on a bunt.  Mantle bunted much more in his early years, peaking in 1956 when he achieved the triple crown, leading both leagues in BA, HR, RBI.

AB/HR (lower is better):

		v Lefty	v Lefty	v Righty	v Righty
		Home	Road	Home	Road
Year	Tot	vLhome	vLroad	vRhome	vRroad
1951	26.2	81.0	64.0	16.3	19.4
1952	23.9	28.8	12.5	21.3	46.3
1953	22.0	27.0	10.4	33.3	31.5
1954	20.1	27.0	28.7	15.9	19.0
1955	14.0	39.0	12.2	10.4	15.8
1956	10.3	14.0	12.8	8.5	9.9
1957	13.9	21.0	17.0	14.6	11.0
1958	12.4	13.4	18.3	11.2	12.1
1959	17.5	21.3	29.0	13.6	18.8
1960	13.1	12.0	8.0	10.9	22.3
1961	9.5	23.0	10.7	6.9	9.1
1962	12.6	20.7	61.0	7.9	11.6
1963	11.5	10.0	9.2	8.7	27.0
1964	13.3	9.3	12.0	20.0	12.3
1965	19.0	15.0	16.8	36.7	15.7
1966	14.5	16.0	15.3	16.2	11.9
1967	20.0	43.5	31.3	15.3	15.2
1968	24.2	19.3	15.3	20.6	43.0
Year	Tot	vLhome	vLroad	vRhome	vRroad
Min	9.5	9.3	8.0	6.9	9.1
Max	26.2	81.0	64.0	36.7	46.3

Mantle became better at homering during the middle of his career, which would probably mean that doubles became home runs.  Pretty bad homer rate in his final two seasons.

AB/SO:

Year	lefty	righty
1951	4.1	5.8
1952	4.3	6.1
1953	4.1	6.9
1954	4.0	9.1
1955	4.4	9.6
1956	5.4	5.2
1957	5.8	8.0
1958	3.9	6.1
1959	3.8	7.2
1960	3.9	5.3
1961	4.4	5.1
1962	4.8	4.9
1963	3.5	22.0
1964	4.0	6.1
1965	4.1	5.6
1966	3.8	5.6
1967	3.6	4.3
1968	3.8	7.9
	4.2	6.2

Mantle's SO rate is fairly consistent over time and should not impact his ability to hit doubles.

BAbip:

Year	lefty	righty
1951	0.349	0.263
1952	0.351	0.367
1953	0.284	0.358
1954	0.331	0.327
1955	0.293	0.357
1956	0.324	0.411
1957	0.342	0.448
1958	0.299	0.4
1959	0.338	0.274
1960	0.262	0.339
1961	0.256	0.405
1962	0.326	0.354
1963	0.284	0.351
1964	0.252	0.444
1965	0.288	0.261
1966	0.328	0.284
1967	0.225	0.346
1968	0.298	0.184
Tot	0.302	0.345

Batting lefty, fairly consistent.  Batting righty, some huge peaks, well over .400.

BA:

Year	lefty	righty	dif
1951	0.295	0.228	-0.067
1952	0.291	0.345	0.054
1953	0.235	0.344	0.109
1954	0.289	0.318	0.029
1955	0.281	0.364	0.083
1956	0.342	0.375	0.033
1957	0.339	0.421	0.082
1958	0.282	0.377	0.095
1959	0.291	0.266	-0.025
1960	0.246	0.344	0.098
1961	0.291	0.371	0.08
1962	0.327	0.309	-0.018
1963	0.257	0.409	0.152
1964	0.241	0.424	0.183
1965	0.25	0.261	0.011
1966	0.292	0.284	-0.008
1967	0.216	0.287	0.071
1968	0.247	0.21	-0.037
Min	0.216	0.21	-0.067
Max	0.342	0.424	0.183

home/road:

1B/H	2B/H	3B/H	HR/H
60.97%	13.45%	3.63%	21.95%
61.43%	15.05%	2.33%	22.44%

Apparently at Yankee Stadium some doubles became triples.  In 1958 Mantle hit two inside the park home runs within a month, which provided his margin of victory over Rocky Colavito 42-41 in the HR race.

Doubles as a percent of hits:

		v Lefty	v Lefty	v Righty	v Righty
		Home	Road	Home	Road
Year	Tot	vLhome	vLroad	vRhome	vRroad
1951	12.09%	5.00%	30.77%	3.45%	17.24%
1952	21.51%	12.20%	28.13%	19.61%	27.08%
1953	17.65%	23.81%	7.14%	12.82%	25.93%
1954	10.43%	6.25%	12.90%	4.44%	16.36%
1955	15.82%	19.35%	17.39%	16.36%	12.24%
1956	11.70%	15.00%	7.69%	13.56%	9.52%
1957	16.18%	22.86%	17.24%	9.26%	18.18%
1958	13.29%	13.64%	12.50%	10.91%	15.79%
1959	14.94%	4.55%	25.00%	14.29%	16.98%
1960	11.81%	15.15%	18.18%	7.50%	10.20%
1961	9.82%	22.58%	9.68%	2.22%	8.93%
1962	12.40%	19.05%	17.65%	6.06%	12.00%
1963	14.81%		20.00%	12.50%	18.18%
1964	17.73%	14.29%	18.75%	25.58%	9.68%
1965	13.04%	4.55%	15.79%	24.00%	7.69%
1966	12.50%	9.09%	5.56%	19.35%	12.00%
1967	15.74%	19.05%	12.90%	17.24%	14.81%
1968	13.59%			14.29%	22.22%
Year	Tot	vLhome	vLroad	vRhome	vRroad
Min	9.82%	4.55%	5.56%	2.22%	7.69%
Max	21.51%	23.81%	30.77%	25.58%	27.08%

Mantle's home run rate was pretty bad in his final two seasons, which may account for his doubles rate being pretty good: homers were now becoming doubles, rather than the other way around in mid career.

None of it is definitive.  I do not recall Mantle hitting a grounder over first or third for a double into the corner.  I don't recall him being thrown out trying to stretch for an extra base.  Perhaps he did in his early seasons and, if unsuccessful, met the wrath of his Yankee manager 1951-1960 Casey Stengel.

My original post on this:

Why did Mickey Mantle hit so few doubles? Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The obvious answer is that the Yankees instructed Mantle to not try for doubles and triples unless he could make it standing.  This would protect his increasingly fragile legs.
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