Mickey Mantle is Almost Assuredly Farting in This Unpublished Photo from 1961

Tony Kubek—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

In 1961, Life Magazine gave then 25-year-old Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek a camera to take with him to spring training so that he could capture some candid images of what many believe to be one of the greatest baseball teams of all-time.

Life recently released the previously unpublished images along with updated commentary by Kubek in an interesting feature you can read in its entirety here.

But for now I'm kind of stuck contemplating whether the picture above is of Mickey Mantle farting. The facial expression, slight leg lift and the joyous reaction of his teammates all point to yes, making this perhaps the only photographic evidence we have that baseball players farted in 1961.

Mantle was known to have a somewhat crude sense of humor, as evidenced by this letter that circulated on the Internet a few years back.

Here are a few more great photos that Kubek took that were never published:

Yogi Berra reads about Yogi Berra :: Tony Kubek—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Part of a memo sent from Florida to the LIFE offices by Bob Fellows, a photographer who accompanied Kubek to spring training :: :: Tony Kubek—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Whitey Ford :: Tony Kubek—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

But just so you can get another look at it:

full gallery here.