On this day in history, June 8, 1969, Mickey Mantle's No. 7 is retired by the New York Yankees

Former MLB player Mike Sweeney shares his take on the Dodgers hosting drag queen 'nuns' on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’

On this day in history, June 8, 1969, the New York Yankees retired slugger Mickey Mantle's number — No. 7 — in front of some 61,000 Major League baseball fans at the sold-out stadium. People cheered both their approval of the player's athletic accomplishments and their likely dismay that he had chosen to step away from a remarkable career. 

Fellow Yankee Joe DiMaggio presented Mantle with a plaque to hang on the center field wall, as Pin Stripe Alley reported of the day's events — and Mantle, in turn, presented DiMaggio with one to hang "just a little bit higher." 

The ceremony that day has been described as "emotional" in numerous reports. 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, JUNE 7, 1942, BATTLE OF MIDWAY ENDS IN DECISIVE US VICTORYEarlier that year — on March 1, 1969, before the start of the '69 season — Mantle announced his retirement from professional baseball. 

"I can't hit anymore," the 37-year-old Mantle said at a news conference at the Yankee Clipper Motel in a room overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, as George Vecsey of The New York Times noted of Mantle's retirement announcement. 

Mantle also said his business interests needed more of his attention, according to reports.

New York Yankees sluggers Joe DiMaggio (left) and Mickey Mantle are shown posing with their pine bats in 1951 — Mantle's rookie year. (The Stanley Weston Archive/Getty Images)

Mantle, at that point in 1969, was baseball's third leading home run hitter with 536, behind Babe Ruth's 714 and Willie Mays' 587, according to reports.

He played his entire 18 years in professional baseball with the New York Yankees, as the Baseball Hall of Fame noted — and