Mantle: The Best There Ever Was

Mantle: The Best There Ever Was

"Mantle’s life story has been told many times, but it’s never received as loving a treatment as this one." Booklist, Starred Review Mickey Mantle is one of baseball’s all-time greats. Playing for the New York Yankees for his entire professional career, Mantle was named to the All-Star team for 11 consecutive seasons, won three MVP awards, and was a seven-time World Series champion. He quickly became an icon who achieved hero status even while playing through injuries for most of his career. In Mantle: The Best There Ever Was, Tony Castro makes the impassioned argument that Mickey Mantle truly was the greatest ballplayer of all time. Acclaimed by the New York Times as the definitive biographer of baseball’s fabled number 7, Castro shares many of his personal conversations with Mantle, demystifying the legend and revealing intimate, never-before-published details from Mantle’s personal life. In addition, Castro offers illuminating new insights into Mantle’s extraordinary career, including the head-turning conclusion based on the evolution of analytics that the beloved Yankee switch-hitting slugger may ultimately win acclaim as having fulfilled the weighty expectation once placed on him: being even greater than Babe Ruth. Drawing from hundreds of interviews with ex-teammates, friends, and family, Castro masterfully blends Mantle’s public and private selves to present a fully rounded portrait of this complex, misunderstood national hero. “This new biography is the product of 50 years of those interviews, including several with Mantle's wife, Merlyn, that Castro couldn't use until after her death in 2009. It’s an extraordinary effort that can be read not only as a biography of a baseball legend but also as a chronicle of the dark side of fame. . . . Mantle’s life story has been told many times, but it’s never received as loving a treatment as this one.” ― Booklist, Starred Review “Recommended - This book brings Mantle to life in all his complicated facets. From his greatness as an athlete and ballplayer―permanently marked by his injury in the 1951 World Series―to his raucous lifestyle in New York and later in Texas, Castro brings readers the highs and lows of Mantle’s life, creating an intimate portrait and a fascinating look at an American hero.” ― Choice Reviews “Journalist Castro (Mickey Mantle: American Prodigal) expertly reveals the flawed yet glorious life of New York Yankee Mickey Mantle (1931–1995), one of baseball’s greatest switch hitters. . . .Castro chronicles the psychological wounds of Mantle’s childhood [and] a traumatic molestation by his half-sister, all of which, Castro argues, contributed to his womanizing and his troubled relationship with his wife, Merlyn Johnson. Informative and entertaining, Castro’s biography is certain to please Yankee and Mantle fans alike.” ― Publishers Weekly “Castro’s book does a marvelous job of drawing from hundreds of interviews with former teammates, friends and family to paint a clear picture of who Mickey Mantle – the person and iconic legend – was. . . . Mantle: The Best There Ever Was is a masterpiece and an instant baseball classic.” ― Corpus Christi Caller-Times “[Mantle] is a good place to start to understand why he became such a legend – oh, and a pretty good ball player as well. [readers who] enjoy reading about this legendary New York Yankee will want to read this one, no matter how much they think they know about him.” ― The Guy Who Reviews Sports Books “The secret love life of Mickey Mantle, the New York Yankee’s fabled baseball home-run hitter and 20th century American icon, was a scoop that veteran journalist Tony Castro swore to keep secret―until now. Whether you’re a baseball fan or not, Castro’s book will take you into a world of myth, magic, and reckless heroism of a bygone era that comes brilliantly alive in this wild, intimate, and astonishing book.” ―Rex Weiner, author of Woodstock Census: Nationwide Survey of the Sixties Generation and The (Original) Adventures of Ford Fairlane “If you wish to fully understand the complicated life of Mickey Mantle, Tony Castro has written an extraordinary book. There has been a library of books written on Mantle, but none will explain him the way this book does. For you millions of Mantle lovers, this book is “The Best There Ever Was.” Don't you dare miss it.” ―Peter Golenbock, author of Dynasty, The Bronx Zoo, and 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel “In this warm, intimate, and often startling book, Tony Castro relies on his own long relationship with Mickey Mantle, a great deal of research, and a remarkable series of interviews with the woman the Yankees star loved before and during his long marriage to give us an unforgettable portrait of a man whose talent and accomplishments were matched only by the demons he couldn’t escape. Mantle: The Best There Ever Was presents an American sports hero in all his glory, and all his torment.” ―Ron Rapoport, author of Let's Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, the