MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee baseball legend got his final send-off Sunday afternoon, as dozens gathered for a celebration of life to remember his contributions both on and off the field.
Major League Baseball player Félix Mantilla Lamela died at 90 on Jan 10th.
His eldest son Felix Mantilla delivered his eulogy at Journey House on Milwaukee’s southside.
“My dad’s strength and character and resilience were unmatched,” he said.
The late Mantilla’s MLB career spanned 11 seasons. He played for the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, and Milwaukee Braves, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron.
While in Milwaukee, Mantilla won two National League Championships and the 1957 World Series Championship.
Mantilla Jr. said 50 years after his dad’s retirement, the all-star player still received regular requests for autographs, with many sharing their personal connections to his life story and time on the field.
"He was still getting these letters at the age of 90,” Mantilla Jr. said. "It thrilled me. It thrilled him. He loved the fact that he was still remembered."
Those who knew him best told TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin that at the heart of Mantilla Sr.’s rise to fame was his Puerto Rican roots.
At Sunday’s service, in recognition of that legacy, Mantilla Jr. started his eulogy by donning a baseball cap from Puerto Rico's Caguas Criollos, where his father got his professional start.
Check out: Milwaukee MLB legend Félix Mantilla remembered on and off the field
“He made a conscious choice…to make sure that my brother Jose and I understood and never forget kind of who he was, where he was from, what blood ran through us,” Mantilla Jr. explained.
He also said it was Mantilla Sr.’s modest island upbringing that motivated his work in the Milwaukee Community.
In 1972 the former MLB player founded Félix Mantilla Little League to bring together his love of baseball and the importance of education to area youth.
Mantilla Jr. said his father, a high school graduate himself, understood the importance of an education that began with his family.
Mantilla Sr. used his MLB success to send his sisters, who still lived in Puerto Rico to college, and years later pushed his two sons to do the same.
Emmanuel Manzanet and Lisette Contreras are two of Mantilla Sr.'s former Little League players. Both are currently going to college.
"What stands out the most to me is his outlook,” Manzanet said. “The way he just walked through life. I think it’s really quite inspiring.”
"It definitely encourages me to want to lead a community and leave an impact,” Contreras said. “He's incredible.”
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