Not a straight-forward biography, this book I would call a psychological profile of the great Mickey Mantle, certainly the most famous baseball player of the 50's and 60's. The book is stirring, poignant, and full of interesting details. The author knows his man.
Casey Stengel originally called him Mickey "Mantles." No one knew why except that maybe it was Stengelese. P. 59
Mantle came to the Yankees as a shortstop but he was a liability at that position. Stengel committed to transitioning him to the outfield. P. 60
Why did Mantle become such an icon. It's Darwinian says Tom Wolfe. He said that God is dead. He meant it as a warming. Who will take his place? Who or what will fill the void? Shamans, faith peddlers, mindless entertainment. You gotta have some new Christ to believe in. Why not Mickey Mantle? P. 126
Mickey's standard opening story when he was speaking was his cow story. He and Billy Martin had new rifles and wanted to try them out hunting deer. Mickey knew a doctor who had a place around San Antonio. With Billy still in the car the doctor says they can hunt on his property but first he tells Mickey that he has mule who is old and needs putting down. Mickey decides to play a joke on Billy, tells him the doctor is mean and won't let them hunt so Mickey tells Billy he is going to shoot thee doctor's mule. So he goes to the barm BLAM down goes the mule. All of a sudden BLAM BLAM BLAM! Billy comes running says I just shot three of his cows for good measure.
Mickey asked Paul Simon why he didn't use his name in "Mrs. Robinson"rather than Joe DiMaggio and Simon explained it was a matter of the syllables of Mickey Mantle's not being right. P. 139
Wrote Talese? P. 140
Mickey Mantle's rise to fame was so improbable that he saw it as divinely ordained; the friend who suggested he might become a great ballplayer but nothing more; the doctor who intervened and who saved his leg from amputation with a miracle drug; and the actress he met in his rookie season and regretted not having married and told him he reminded her of King Arthur.
He had a passion for golf.
Mickey could play the game, but he knew he wasn't smart enough to manage. P. 148
Joe DiMaggio could sit in the clubhouse for hours and not speak to anyone. P. 179
Mickey didn't know what to do in retirement. Do any of us?
"I didn't know I raised a coward." Mutt Mantle to Mickey when Mickey talked about quitting baseball and returning to Oklahoma.
Casey had trouble managing Mantle because he couldn't reach him.
Nellie Fox said that on two legs Mantle would have been the greatest ever.
Mantle led the American League in strikeouts five times. P. 197
Some say that Mickey was the son that Casey Stengel never had. If so, he was a difficult child for the Case. Mickey did no rehab when he needed to or keep himself in shape like he should have. Must have old Case in perpetual turmoil.
His long marriage with 4 sons to Merlyn yet a long-term relationship with Holly Brooke are unexplainable.
At a Mickey Mantle Day in 1965 DiMaggio was there but so was Sen. Robert Kennedy. DiMaggio avoided shaking the senator's hand since he hated the Kennedys over Marilyn with whom he was married for nine months in 1954.
The author is from Waco where he and Mickey played golf. Amusing to hear him talk about driving up and down what ultimately became I-35 between Dallas and Waco.
Great stories of Billy shooting the cows and Mickey hitting a homer hung over.
It is disappointing that the author does not talk about 1961.
One big factor in the Mantle Cult is that Mickey was white, very white. Mickey said that Hank Aaron was thee best he ever saw. No real mention of Mickey and Willie. They were compared in the 50's and 60's. Race was a factor in Mickey's favor.
Mutt Mantle was hard, domineering father. It amazes me how he drilled his son into being a switch-hitter. Mickey always wanted to please his father and could never stand up to him. The impression of this reader is that he married his childhood sweetheart Merlyn rather than his true love Holly because this is what his father wanted.
The author refers to Harry Truman as a "caretaker president." How silly, Mr. Castro.
Upon being told that he is a writer, Yogi asks Ernest Hemingway, "What paper are you with?"
How good could Mickey Mantle have been if he had taken better care of himself? We will never know. This was once a hotly debated subject, not so much I assume now unless amongst aged baseball fans. The Mantle name will never equal that of Babe Ruth. Just how good could Mickey Mantle have been if he had stayed healthy? That question has been debated forever. My point is that as time moves on the question will be less and less discussed except for old-time baseball purists.
Is Mantle's combination of power and speed unmatched?
The author makes the case that 1957 was his best year and maybe the best year ever in the modern era. His onbase pct. was an astounding .512
Check out John Thorn and his new way looking at baseball statistics.
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