Stories about Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams are still relished. (Warm Up Tosses).(Column)

THERE ARE TIMES IN A COLUMNIST'S LIFE WHEN HE OR SHE ENCOUNTERS A creative period as arid and virtually lifeless as the El Centro desert in Southern California where the temperature can soar as high as 120 degrees in summer.

And, at this very moment, as your host is reaching out for an idea, he feels as though he is stuck out there in that dry, barren land east of San Diego, accompanied only by tumbleweed, prickly cacti and razor-sharp brambles.

But, suddenly my imagination catches sight of a life-saving "water station" labeled "Nostalgia."

So, I'll quickly get out of this rambling introduction, and return to the first "Warm Up Tosses" column I wrote for Baseball Digest in May 1969, a nostalgic column about Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams.

Perhaps, a rehash of that column can be justified in that it will stir fond memories of older readers and to some extent enlighten younger fans who have never seen Mickey or Ted play or even know much about them. So, here's a condensation of that 33-year-old column:

SO LONG, MICKEY; HELLO, TED ... The absence of Mickey Mantle in the Yankee lineup this season, and the return of Ted Williams as manager of the Washington Senators revive memories of the late 1950s and early 1960s when I was traveling the baseball beat and the two men were the game's most luminous gate attractions.

There was something awesome about Mantle's power, whether he hit from the left or right side of the plate, and his ability to send the ball into orbit wreaked havoc with many pitchers' self-esteem.