Mantle: The Best There Ever Was

Mantle: The Best There Ever Was

<div><div><div><b>AMERICA'S ORIGINAL HERO, THE MICK IS THE GREATEST * From Tony Castro, the <i>New York Times </i>bestselling author, comes this brilliant re-evaluation of Mickey Mantle </b>--<b> of whom even Joe DiMaggio begrudgingly told the author: "to say there was anyone better in the game, to say there was anyone better than Mantle is what we Italians would call '<i>un sacco di stronzate,</i>' a load of crap."<br /> <br />"An American literary stylistic masterpiece... Tony Castro paints Mickey Mantle with the pinstripe magic of Garcia Marquez phantasmagoria and realism..." -- Tom Wolfe</b></div><div> <br />In <i>Mantle: The Best There Ever Was</i><i>,</i> Tony Castro makes the impassioned argument that Mickey Mantle truly was the greatest ballplayer of all time. Acclaimed by the <i>New York Times</i> as the definitive biographer of baseball's fabled No. 7, Castro offers the concluding book of his comprehensive Mickey Mantle biographical trilogy.<b> </b></div><br />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.<br /><br />Castro concludes that Mantle did fulfill the dream he had rejected on but feared he hadn't achieved: "I really do believe I would be way up at the top of everything if I hadn't been injured," he said. "When I was healthy, I really believe I was the best of anyone I ever saw play."<br /><br /><div>The author 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. </div><div><br />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.</div><div></div></div></div>