Not Newsworthy But... Pt 3

These Things Come In Threes

As idiotic as it is, there's this story here about a man who is a dead-ringer for the late Mickey Mantle. Yep, that's the guy in the picture above - apart from his mild resemblance, it's not like he can demonstrate hitting prowess - there is nothing remarkable about the man. Nope, it's definitely not newsworthy, however it seems to be the theme of the week so I'm blogging it.

Don Brown, a 63-year-old Mantle impersonator from upstate New York, tells people to relax.

“People take pictures of me on the interstate with their cell phones, and there was a lady who rear-ended someone else with her car because she was looking at me,” Brown said. “I had a lady come up to me just shaking. She said she thought she had seen a ghost.”

Brown said he uses his uncanny likeness to the Hall of Famer to raise awareness for his true passion: organ donation. He was at Integris Baptist Regional Health Center in Miami, Okla., on Tuesday to promote April as Organ Donation Awareness Month. He will make a brief stop in Joplin today at the Elks Lodge, 1802 W. 26th St.

Brown got involved in organ donation about the same time he realized his likeness to Mantle.

“For years I was a salesman for Reader’s Digest, and one time in the mid-1980s I stopped into this bar outside of Cooperstown, N.Y.,” Brown said. “I was dressed like a salesman, in a suit, and had a ring on my hand that looked very much like Mantle’s 1956 World Series ring. These two guys at the end of the bar kept looking at me, and finally one them said, ‘I know who you are. You’re Mickey Mantle. Welcome.’”

Around that same time, Brown’s brother, Ed, needed a kidney transplant. Brown insisted on donating one his own kidneys, but his brother died before the surgery. After that, Brown got involved in Mantle’s organ donation foundation.

Now, Brown travels around the United States in a 2004 Thunderbird with a custom pinstripe paint job and a Yankee logo on the hood, and Mantle’s No. 7 painted on the back. He attends National Baseball Hall of Fame and Mantle events, and visits organ donors and recipients in hospitals.

“I’m not licensed by the MLB (Major League Baseball), and I don’t sign any autographs as Mickey,” he said. “I’m not Mickey Mantle. I just raise awareness, and that’s what looking like Mickey does. It just brings a greater awareness.”

Like I need to know what it might be like to look like Mickey Mantle. Wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to a guy. No story yet on if Don made it with Doris Day as well.

There was that dude in the documentary 'Sherman's March' who is a dead ringer for Burt Reynolds in his peak years. When he's asked by the director if he scores a lot, he responds "Oh yeah, sure I do." It's one of the highlights of that film.