Celebrating the legacy of Felix Mantilla
baseball community icon
Even though I write primarily about the Kansas City Royals, from time to time I venture out to other stories that need to be told. A few weeks ago, I wrote about one James Beckum, a former player in the Negro Leagues who was an icon in his native Milwaukee. Beckum helped found a Little League on the city’s north side which is still thriving today. The baseball establishment in the City of Milwaukee has had a rough go of it the last few months, first losing Beckum, then with the death of another Milwaukee (and national) icon, the incomparable Bob Uecker on January 16. Sandwiched between those two giants was another loss, which unfortunately did not receive the publicity it deserved. On January 10, former player and community leader Felix Mantilla passed away in Milwaukee at the age of 90.
I knew of Mantilla as a player in the early to mid-1960s but had no idea of his impact on Milwaukee baseball until being alerted to it by a delightful woman named Beth Strohbusch. Mantilla, the player, had a story in his own right. Born July 29, 1934, in Isabela, Puerto Rico, Mantilla like many young men in his country, loved to play baseball. He played for the Caguas Criollos and the San Juan Senadores of the Puerto Rican Winter League. As a young man he played on a team that won the World Amateur Baseball Championship in 1951 and in 1954 helped lead Caguas to a Caribbean League World Series Championship. As Mantilla often said, “you have to hit your way off the island”.
This success led to his signing with the Boston Braves prior to the 1952 season. At the age of 17, away from home for the first time, Mantilla stroked a cool .323 in 119 games at Class B Evansville. The next three seasons saw similar success during stops in Jacksonville and Toledo. By the time he made his major league debut on June 21, 1956, the Braves had relocated to the comfortable confines of Milwaukee. An exceptional athlete, Mantilla was primarily a middle infielder but over his 11-year career, he played every position except pitcher and catcher.
He got into 35 games as a 21-year-old rookie and acquitted himself well by hitting .283. He played six seasons in Milwaukee, becoming a fan favorite and a roommate to Henry Aaron. Aaron later became godfather to Mantilla’s son, Felix Junior. Serving as a valuable jack of all trades, Mantilla helped the Braves beat the Yankees in the 1957 World Series.
The New York Mets acquired Mantilla in the 1961 expansion draft, and he had a fine season for the Mets. Appearing in 141 games, he slashed .275/.330/.399 with a little pop in his bat. The Mets traded him that winter to Boston, where Mantilla enjoyed the best years of his career.
During his three seasons in Boston, Mantilla blossomed into a star, hitting a career-high 30 home runs in 1964 and a career-high 92 RBI in 1965. He made his only All-Star appearance in 1965 and ended those three years with an OPS+ of 131. In the off-season, Boston traded Mantilla to the Houston Astros, but he only hit .219 over 77 games. Houston cut him loose in the off-season and he signed with the Cubs, but never again played a major league game. For his efforts on the field, Mantilla was named to the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Old Time Baseball Players Hall of Fame, and the Milwaukee Braves Wall of Honor at Miller Park.
The next chapter of his life may have been even more significant. Mantilla settled in Milwaukee and started the Felix Mantilla Little League on the city’s south side in 1972. The league is currently the oldest-running Little League in the United States. In partnership with a Southside Milwaukee non-profit called Journey House, the Felix Mantilla Little League serves over 300 boys and girls, with five levels of play, starting with tee ball. Ages range from 4 to 15 and no child is turned away. Journey House has been an important anchor in South Milwaukee. They offer adult education, youth development, workforce readiness and family engagement to families and individuals of Milwaukee’s Near South Side. Falling under that umbrella are the Felix Mantilla Little League and the Journey House/Packer youth football league.
The Felix Mantilla Little League requires a “dual focus” on academics and baseball, which includes college prep and a mandatory one-hour study hall in which the young athletes get instruction in writing, English and mathematics.
It’s all quite impressive. The Mantilla Little League has a Vision Statement that says:
1. Education
a) Academics
b) Athletic Skill Development
2. Character and Life skills
3. Nutrition for performance
4. Appearance
5. Parental engagement
6. Winning
The league plays their games on Saturdays at the Baran Park Complex, which is just three miles south of downtown Milwaukee. Just a few years ago, Baran Park was in dire shape. The infields were rough and overgrown with weeds and the outfield grass was spotty. Journey House set to change that by engaging city and community leaders. They helped raise over $2.3 million in donations, including grants from the Milwaukee Brewers Foundation, the Cal Ripken Foundation and the MLB Baseball for Tomorrow Foundation just to name a few.
Today Baran Park’s baseball fields are state of the art. There are five ball diamonds at Baran Park, four of which have grass infields. The main diamond is beautiful, tightly manicured and well groomed. Sandwiched between Interstate 43 and the Kinnickinnic River, the park is an oasis and recreational hub of South Milwaukee.
Even though Felix Mantilla is gone, his legacy will live on in the city’s south side.