AMERICA'S ORIGINAL HERO, THE MICK IS THE GREATEST * From Tony Castro, the New York Times bestselling author, comes this brilliant re-evaluation of Mickey Mantle -- 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 'un sacco di stronzate,' a load of crap."
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"An American literary stylistic masterpiece... Tony Castro paints Mickey Mantle with the pinstripe magic of Garcia Marquez phantasmagoria and realism..." -- Tom Wolfe
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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 No. 7, Castro offers the concluding book of his comprehensive Mickey Mantle biographical trilogy.Â
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.
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."
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.Â
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.
