Michael Charles Brantley Sr. (born June 17, 1961) is an American former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. He was the

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...

for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB) from early to September .

Early life

Brantley grew up in

Catskill, New York Catskill is a town in the southeastern section of Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 11,298 at the 2020 census, the largest town in the county. The western part of the town is in the Catskill Park. The town contains a v ...

, the sixth of eleven children—seven boys, four girls. His father was a foundry worker and his mother was a homemaker. He attended Catskill High School. Brantley went on to attend Columbia-Greene Community College, starred in soccer,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

, and still holds several school records. After one year at CGCC, he starred at

Coastal Carolina University Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

, and after his senior season, in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, was drafted by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

in the second round (#30 overall). After 3+ successful years in the minors, he made his big league debut with the Seattle Mariners in .

Career

As player

Brantley played outfield and designated hitter during parts of four seasons, 1986–1989, all for the Seattle Mariners. As a rookie in , he led the Mariner regulars in hitting with a .302 average, and also had 14 home runs and 54 RBI in 106 games. His only full season as a regular came in when he hit .263 with 15 HR and 56 RBI in 149 games. He spent the – seasons with several teams in the minor leagues, finally finishing his playing career with the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

in Japan.

As coach and manager

Between and , Brantley was a coach and manager in the minor leagues for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...

organizations. Prior to the 2005 season Brantley was named as the first base coach for the

. After Mike Barnett was dismissed three weeks into the season, Brantley replaced him as the hitting coach. Brantley was released near the end of the 2007 season, as the Jays' offense that year was less productive than expected.

Personal life

Brantley's son, Michael Brantley, plays for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

, and participated in the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and

2021 World Series The 2021 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2021 season. The 117th World Series was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Atlanta Braves and the American League (AL) champion H ...

. His nephew, Justin Brantley, was a pitcher in the Indians organization from 2014 to 2017. Justin signed a minor league contract with the

and released in 2017. In the early 1980s, teenage boxer

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is con ...

lived with Brantley and his family. After 17 years of marriage to Nina Brantley, Mickey and Nina divorced.

References

External links

Espn.com player profile

Basketball-reference Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brantley, Mickey 1961 births Living people African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball managers African-American baseball players African-American soccer players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan American men's basketball players Bakersfield Mariners players Baseball coaches from New York (state) Baseball players from New York (state) Basketball players from New York (state) Calgary Cannons players Chattanooga Lookouts players Coastal Carolina Chanticleers baseball players Columbia–Greene Twins baseball players Columbia–Greene Twins men's basketball players Denver Zephyrs players Junior college men's soccer players in the United States Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Major League Baseball designated hitters Major League Baseball outfielders Minor league baseball managers Nashville Sounds players New York Mets coaches Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders People from Catskill, New York Phoenix Firebirds players Salt Lake City Gulls players Seattle Mariners players Soccer players from New York (state) Toronto Blue Jays coaches Tucson Toros players Yomiuri Giants players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople Association footballers not categorized by position Association football players not categorized by nationality