"I never intended to be anything other than a ballplayer. Like Thomas Edison said, 'Find out something you like to do and you'll never have to work the rest of your life.' Well, I took his advice.

A native of the Cleveland, Ohio, area, Mates recalled that "I thought he was the next Bob Feller." At night, the two men often talked baseball. "I had seen the game where DiMaggio's streak ended ...