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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.
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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.
"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.
Tony Castro, an American historian and Nieman Fellow at Harvard, is the author of seven books, including the literary biography Looking for Hemingway and the landmark civil rights history Chicano Power, which Publishers Weekly hailed as “brilliant . . . a valuable contribution to the understanding of our time.” Mantle: The Best There Ever Was completes Castro’s Mickey Mantle trilogy, which includes Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son, the best biography ever written about the Hall of Fame icon according to the New York Times, and DiMag&Mick: Sibling Rivals, Yankee Blood Brothers. He is currently working on a biography of Napoleon Bonaparte. Castro lives in Los Angeles with his wife Renee LaSalle and their black Labrador retriever Jeter. Tony Castro is the author of nine critically acclaimed books, including Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America, a foundational work that became required reading in Latino and Chicano Studies programs across the country. His other works include a trilogy of highly-praised books on Mickey Mantle-Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son, DiMag&Mick: Sibling Rivals, Yankee Blood Brothers, and Mantle: The Best There Ever Was. A seasoned political reporter and cultural historian, his bylines have appeared in the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and the Texas Observer, where he covered everything from presidential campaigns to sports, including tennis. He lives in Los Angeles.
Part One: The Best There Was Prologue: “I’ve Beaten Gehrig” Chapter One: The Hero’s Widow Chapter Two: Myths and Curses Chapter Three: Of Fathers and Sons Chapter Four: The Boy Who Would Be Best Chapter Five: Eyes on The Babe Chapter Six: The Child of Stengel and Destiny Chapter Seven: DiMaggio and Mantle Chapter Eight: Scouts, Taxmen, and Swindlers Chapter Nine: Life in the Big Apple Chapter Ten: The Fateful Day Part Two: The Best There Is Prologue: Breakfast of Champions Chapter Eleven: Mickey Mantle in Excelsis Chapter Twelve: The Prince of America Chapter Thirteen: Now Teeing Off . . . Mickey Mantle Chapter Fourteen: Holly Brooke Chapter Fifteen: Down the Rabbit Hole Chapter Sixteen: Svengali Part Three: The Best There Ever Will Be . Prologue: “I Gave You Such a Good Start . . .” Chapter Seventeen: Best in the Game Chapter Eighteen: Angels and Demons Chapter Nineteen: The Last American Hero Chapter Twenty: The Triple Crown Epilogue: The Greatest Author’s Note Acknowledgments Bibliography Index About the Author
