Major League Baseball great MIckey Mantle was born in Spavinaw and grew up in Commerce. So why does his memory live in Grove?

Only Terry Hembree knows for sure.

Hembree, a Grove businessman who juggles Hollywood At Home Video, The Grand Lake visitor publication and action Advertising Agency, has taken it upon himself to construct a rather thorough memorial to arguably the greatest baseball player to ever play the game

The exhibit is located in the front of Hembree's Hollywood At Home Video Store at 536 West Third Street in Grove. There is no charge to browse the mini-museum and it is open to the public during the store's hours of 1PM to 9PM Monday through Thursday and 1PM to 11PM Friday through Saturday.

Call ahead at (918) 786-3210 to schedule a tour of the museum for larger groups.

"This is free, we're not charging and we're never going to charge," said Hembree, who said he didn't feel it would be right to profit from a deceased professional athlete. "There are people out there making more money from one item than waht Mickey made in one season playing baseball."

Hembree became aquainted with Mickey about 15 years ago while working on Mantle's Make A Wish Celebrity Golf Classic at Shangri-La Resort. It was then that he began accumulating items personally autographed by the Hall of Famer. Many of these items sat in Hembree's private office in the back of the store and visitors to the business would often inquire about them.

"I had things that he had given me, but I had no value on them... I didn't know what they were worth and didn't care," said Hembree. "But everyone always wanted to come in the office and check things out."

While recovering from a stroke in 1999, Hembree found the time to seek out other collectors from around the world and participate in online auctions in search for more Mantle memoarabilia. The number of items now housed in the three wall length display cases is, quite simply, staggering.

Hembree has, it seems, every commemorative plate, statue, ball, card, button and coin ever made or minted that depicts Mantle. And that's just for starters.

The display originated with a 4 foot by 8 foot glass case. But Hembree's frequent acquisitions soon resulted in expansion. Coy Mayfield of Noel, Missouri based Minuteman Machine donated the labor necessary to complete the cases as they appear today.

Hembree's creative touch is evident with the three dimensional arrangement of the display. He's also used mannequins to exhibit commemorative game jerseys. And, he's made the display interactive with audio and video presentations.

Hembree has spent thousands of dollars on merchandise that he now cumulatively estimates to be worth millions. That's the reason the display is protected by motion detectors and 24 hour surveillence equipment.

While all of the items currently on display in the exhibit belong to Hembree, he says he would be open to displaying items for others who own Mantle memorabilia.

"It may be something they've had over the years and they don't know what to do with it. They may know that it's worth something or means something to somebody," Hembree explained. "But if someone had something they wanted to put in the exhibit or sell, I would be happy to talk to them about it."

Admittedly, Mantle was not perfect. As he lived out his final years in a battle with cancer, he acknowledged a drinking problem and urged children "Don't be like me." Mantle ded in 1995, not long after the cancer was detected during a liver transplant.

Before his death, he established the Mickey Mantle Foundation to promote organ and tissue donations. It was during these final days that Hembree really began to admire Mantle.

"When he passed away, I seemed to get closer to him because of his comments," Hembree said, not taking anything away from thepure athleticism Mantle possessed.

"He played in bandages," said Hembree. "He played when he should have been in a room at the hospital. He was good at everything he did."

Mutt Mantle, Mickey's father, moved the family from pavinaw to Commerce when Mickey was four. Mutt went to work in the mines. Six months shy of his 20th birthday, Mantle signed with the Yankees, where he proceeded to hit 536 homeruns.

Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956 and helped lead the Yankees to the World Series twelve times.

But the Mantle that Hembree admires most isn't the one that was slugging tape measure homeers over the fences of ballfields across America. Or showing off his blazing speed around the basepaths. Or flashing his trademark smile after yet another World Series victory.

The Mantle that Hembree most admired was the one that admitted his shortcomings. The one that set his pride aside and said what needed to be said.

"When he was on TV in his robe with his Texas Rangers ball cap... it was after he had his surgery and he looked terrible... and he asked the kids not to imitate his lifestyle, that took a lot of guts on his part to get in front of the nation," Hembree said. "That really made me have a lot of respect for him."

And that's the real reason the memory of Mickey Mantle lives in Grove.