Baseball star Mickey Mantle's bostin' background revealed

The reality is the American sport is far from the industrial Midlands but surprisingly it turns out descendants of one of the game's most iconic players were indeed Black Country folk.

The great-great-grandfather of Mickey Mantle, the former New York Yankees star player dubbed the Commerce Rocket, was from Brierley Hill.

George S Mantle, born in the region in at the start of the 19th century, more than 100 years before the birth of Mickey, was the man who brought his family to America.

Mickey is considered one of the game's greatest players, alongside the likes of Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio, playing centre fielder and first baseman.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 for his standout career, which spanned 1951 to 1968, plying his trade in the Big Apple.

His great-great-grandfather George was born in 1805 and married his great-great-grandmother, Maria Scriven, at Tipton parish church on June 16, 1828. Their eldest son, James David Mantle, was born in Brierley Hill on May 10, 1841.

Seven years later the family moved family to Missouri, USA. George died in 1879 but James had already married Elissa C Moore in 1863 and they had a son, Charles Edwin Mantle, who married Mae Clark.

Charles and Mae would be Mickey's grandparents, who was named after Mickey Cochrane, considered one of Baseball's best catchers, when he was born to parents Elvin Charles 'Mutt' Mantle, a lead miner, and Lovell Mantle, in Oklahoma on October 20, 1931.

Mickey attended Commerce High School after his father had moved the family to Commerce to work in the local mines. He played basketball and American football but baseball was his first love. His path to baseball stardom was nearly cut short before it began after he picked up a leg injury in a practice football game. He was driven to Tulsa at midnight by his parents to receive the newly available penicillin, which saved his leg from amputation.

Mickey started his baseball career with Baxter Springs Whiz Kids of Kansas, a semi-professional team, before he was spotted by a scout from the Yankees. After graduating high school he became part of the Yankee's nursery teams and made his Major League debut in 1951.

He took over Joe Maggio's position in centre field at the end of the 1951 season but his breakthrough came in 1956 when he won the triple crown, topping the league for batting average, home runs and runs batted. Mickey retired in 1968, third on the all-time home run list with 536. He was also the Yankees all-time leader in games played until 2011.