Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son

Rating:
Summary: MICKEY MANTLE: AMERICA'S PRODIGAL SON--A LITERARY GRAND SLAM
Review: He's sexy, he's bad, he's beautiful -- and he's also dead.

But in what may be the most brilliant biography ever written about a sports figure, MICKEY MANTLE: AMERICA'S PRODIGAL SON brings baseball legend Mickey Mantle back to life as we never got to know him when he played on all those New York Yankee teams of the Fifties and Sixties.

In an era when America desperately needs bonafide sports heroes, we now have Mickey Mantle once more.

What makes you love Mantle again is the way author Tony Castro has portrayed him -- highly vulnerable, like an athletic Hamlet fighting with himself to make the ghost of his demanding father proud of him, long after Mutt Mantle died during Mickey's 1952 season with the Yankees.

The book, of course, touches on all the requisite Mantle stories and statistics -- but it goes far beyond. Castro's research is astounding. (Should we be surprised? He is Harvard-educated, a former Sports Illustrated staff writer and has also covered presidential campaigns and the civil war in El Salvador.)

In MICKEY MANTLE: AMERICA'S PRODIGAL SON, we learn that Mickey was sexually abused as a child... that he wet his bed until his teen-age years because of his father's overbearing demands to succeed ... that he was madly in love with the woman of his dreams -- a New York showgirl -- during his turbulent rookie season with the Yankee and gave her up because of his father's virtual death-bed wish that he marry Merlyn, "one of your kind."

You also learn more about Mantle the ballplayer in this book than in any previous biography, starting with the way the Yankees got him -- or stole him, to be more accurate. MICKEY MANTLE: AMERICA's PRODIGAL SON reveals how the Yankees undercut his value when they signed him for $1,500 in 1949 when in another part of Oklahoma another phenom was getting a $50,000 bonus -- and specifically how the scout who made a name for himself signing Mickey broke baseball's laws on dealing with players still in high school, then recruited even Mantle's high school principal to help keep other scouts away. The book is full of other similar revelations that will stun even the most knowledgeable of Mantle fans and devotees.

Mantle's well-known self-destructive off-the-field lifestyle is also chronicled, as are his rock star-like tantrums with fans and the media. He was every bit as bad as Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" tell-all portrayed him, yet every bit as rogueishly lovable as Billy Crystal's HBO "61*" made him out to be. But what Tony Castro has done is profiled Mantle fully -- not only the alcoholism that damaged his career and destroyed his family life but also the almost religious epiphany, if you will, that changed Mickey after sobering up at the Betty Ford Clinic and especially in the final weeks of his life in 1995, as he courageously held himself up as the role model of what not to be.

MICKEY MANTLE: AMERICA'S PRODIGAL SON is a marvelous tour de force, Pulitzer Prize biography quality. There is sheer genius in the writing, and the book is a valuable contribution to the understanding of Mickey Mantle as an American cultural icon alongside Elvis and Marilyn. A can't miss best seller.

The only question now is whether they can get Brad Pitt to play Mickey on the screen.

Rating:
Summary: Another HOMERUN for Mantle with one for Castro!!
Review: I wanted to learn more about Mickey Mantle after seeing Billy Crystal's HBO movie 61*. Since Mantle's career had long ended before I was born, my only knowledge of Mantle was his name and that he was a famous baseball player. I didn't even know why he was a famous baseball player. If I ever thought about it, which I did not, I would've guessed he broke some kind of baseball record. Well, it's obvious to me now that before I read Tony Castro's book "Mickey Mantle:America's Prodigal Son," I had absolutely no idea of what I was missing. And, I wish I found out sooner, while Mantle was still alive!!!

This book opened my eyes to a lot about Mickey Mantle, the time in which he played ball, the legacy of the New York Yankees, and baseball, in general. In regards to Mantle, I never knew what a powerhouse he really was with the ability to hit a baseball over 500ft numerous times. Add to that the fact that he could hit from both sides of the plate and the kind of speed he had to get around the bases. His athletic ability alone was astonishing to me. I really wish I were born earlier so that I could have seen him play.

But, this book is not just a lengthy form of the back of a baseball card containing statistics about Mickey Mantle. It is much more. It allows you to live in the times that Mantle did by explaining the goings on in the country and baseball's role in the country at each stage of his life. I think it was great the way Castro did this because you could get a sense of the emotion surrounding Mantle and the incredible greatness of the Yankees at that time. Dare I say, I got caught up in the story almost as if I was watching it or living through it. (Although, I know I could never really know what it was like to live at that time and experience even seeing Mantle play ball on TV.) For example, while reading about Mantle, learning to play ball from his father and grandfather, as he was growing up, you get a real feel for how much Mickey and his father loved baseball. You also see how even at a very young age, Mantle gave his all for the game. You understand that for Mickey playing ball and playing hard was not only about living out a dream, but also about giving back to his father all he felt his father gave to him. It was a labor of love and you feel that reading this book, especially as Mickey begins to realize his potentials by breaking all kinds of records.

But despite all this glory, the story turns dark early with the death of Mickey's father very, very early in his major league career. It continues to stay dark as Mickey's drinking slowly destroys his body, even as he plays. Yet, even through the drinking and injuries, you are uplifted by knowing that Mickey gets out there everyday to play the game and play it better than great.

Finally, though, Mickey must retire and his life goes downward because his drinking gets so much worse. It is at this point that the clouds really darken for Mickey. It is sad, and lasts for the rest of his life. And yet, at the very end, Mickey steps up to the plate one last time to correct the mistakes he's made by drinking. He does this by sharing his darker story with the country as an example of how not to handle the difficult times and, in his mind, waste one's talents. He begins a "don't drink and don't do drugs" campaign to save others from his kind of problems.

"Mickey Mantle:America's Prodigal Son" is really a great book. There is so much more to this story that hasn't even been mentioned here. It is a small history lesson in the goings on in baseball and the country through the 1950s until the 1990s in addition to Mickey's story. It explains why the game is the way it is today with money at the center and no real grooming of players, for any team, as the Yankees did for so long, which led to their famously long winning streak. You don't have to be a baseball guru, or even a baseball lover to appreciate Mickey's heartwarming story with its greatness, disappointment, and true heroics.

Rating:
Summary: meticulously researched
Review: if this is your first interest in a book about "the mick", castro's work is a great place to start. i wish this one was available before i read the other three in my collection. what sets this book apart, is the journalistic integrity that is apparent with it, and the avoidance of sensationalism just for the sake of it. it is complete with dozens of anecdotes told by those that knew mantle - a feature that undoubtedly serves to make it more interesting than standard biographical non fiction. it is obvious that the author, seeking to be impartial, had a love for the player and the person. if you are looking for a mantle biography that is an honest portrayal of mantle as a ballplayer with the dynastic yankees, and as a man with weaknesses, look no further. if you are a american history buff, you will also enjoy how santos weaves events of the day and the flavor of the time into the flow of his book. all and all a great read. i highly recommend it, especially to those who, like myself, grew up "worshipping" the yankees of the 50's and 60's and, of course, their centerpiece center fielder from oklahoma.

Rating:
Summary: SORRY
Review: if this is your first interest in a book about "the mick", castro's work is a great place to start. i wish this one was available before i read the other three in my collection. what sets this book apart, is the journalistic integrity that is apparent with it, and the avoidance of sensationalism just for the sake of it. it is complete with dozens of anecdotes told by those that knew mantle - a feature that undoubtedly serves to make it more interesting than standard biographical non fiction. it is obvious that the author, seeking to be impartial, had a love for the player and the person. if you are looking for a mantle biography that is an honest portrayal of mantle as a ballplayer with the dynastic yankees, and as a man with weaknesses, look no further. if you are a american history buff, you will also enjoy how santos weaves events of the day and the flavor of the time into the flow of his book. all and all a great read. i highly recommend it, especially to those who, like myself, grew up "worshipping" the yankees of the 50's and 60's and, of course, their centerpiece center fielder from oklahoma.

Rating:
Summary: Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son
Review: In Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son, former Sports Illustrated writer Tony Castro examines Mantle's great promise - Casey Stengel hailed him as the next Ruth and the successor to DiMaggio - and what went wrong for him in the big city. What unfolds is a story of fathers and sons, rebels and heroes, and a youth's rite of passage. At the heart of the book is Mantle's complex relationship with his father, who controlled his son's life both on the field and off, and whose early death plagued Mantle with guilt for the rest of his life." "Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son is based on six years of research during which the author interviewed over 250 of Mantle's friends, teammates, lovers, acquaintances, and drinking partners. It is both a biography of one of the world's most fascinating and enduring sports heroes and a look at the American society of his time.

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Summary: How and Why Mickey Mantle Was Our Troubled Public Hero
Review: No American athelete has ever been revered by a higher percentage of Americas youth than was Mickey Mantle. We needed for somebody to write a book about how and why America made Mickey Mantle an unprecedented and enduring national sports icon and to what degree Mickey was and was not prepared for the ramifications. As one of those life-long fans of Mantle, I think I've read every book about him, in addition to absorbing forty years of magazine articles. Tony Castro's research and writing produced the best sports biography I've ever read. "MICKEY MANTLE, America's Prodigal Son," is a beautiful composition of history and emotion and revelation. The depths that Castro explored took us to the troubled inside of Mickey the boy and Mantle the man. Castro clearly defined the public star who exposed his personal conflicts only toward the end of his famous life. Secondarily it it also teaches us about the interactions of the Yankees and explains why Mickey's teammates and opponents were always so loyal and supportive of him. (Joe DiMaggio excepted.) Actually, Castro's whole approach to the subject was masterful. The reader benefits from more than just new insights into what made Mickey what he was and wasn't; the reader learns about why Mickey became what he ultimately became and how he became so much a part of us. This book should be required reading for fathers and sons of all ages. It teaches us about ourselves and about the times we all shared with Mickey Mantle--from those days when he was what we all we wanted to be, to those days when he became what we all hoped he and we wouldn't become. In the end Castro explains to us the many reasons why we were fascinated with Mantle. The dark side of our flawed idol having been explained for the first time in detail, sets the stage for the bittersweet end where Castro describes the salvation that all of us desired for Mantle to attain. Castro paints the canvas with the events leading to Mantle's death. The end of the ride allowed the public to bury The Mick in the same glow it always wanted for him as a real American hero, strong, but at the same time, understandably and forgivably fragile.

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Summary: Great details, but say it -- Mantle was the best
Review: Tony Castro has done an excellent job recording the life and times of Mickey Mantle. Castro's biography is exhaustively researched, rich in detail, and compellingly written. This book is a must read for any Mantle fan for these reasons. However, I have a single gripe. Like many other writers on this subject, Castro falls prey to the temptation to view Mantle the icon as something larger than Mantle the player, as if the legend of Mantle has exceeded his baseball accomplishments. Today it has become common for baseball fans who never saw Mantle play to downplay Mantle's place in the game. They explain away his larger-than-life reputation as resulting more from him being a good-looking, white Yankee. They look at his career statistics, see 536 home runs, four seasons with 100 RBIs, a lifetime average at .298, and fall into the trap of saying that plenty of players today achieve such numbers (overlooking the degree to which today's statistics have become so inflated). Among his contemporaries, these fans rate Mays (.302 lifetime average) and Aaron (.304) as superior. Although commonly believed today, none of this is true. Mantle was the best player of his generation, and the best player I ever saw in the many years I have watched this game. For an extended period in the middle of his career, from about 1955 through about 1962, Mickey Mantle was baseball's best player. To give you an idea just how feared Mantle was, in 1957, Mantle was walked 146 times and had an on-base percentage of .512. Sure, I know Barry Bonds was passed more in 2001, but he did not have Yogi Berra -- that's right -- Yogi Berra batting behind him. Even though Berra was at the peak of his career at the time, pitchers still saw fit to pitch around Mantle. Comparatively, if Mantle had achieved as many at-bats as Aaron, he would have hit 818 home runs, and as many at-bats as Mays would have resulted in 718 home runs. I say none of this to knock Mays and Aaron, who are both rightly viewed as among the best ever. I say this only to highlight that before Mantle was an icon, he was the most-feared ballplayer of his time. What has robbed Mantle of his rightful claim to the best player of his time is that his career as a productive player was effectively over at the young age of 32, due to numerous injuries which hobbled him before his time. If he played today, of course, those intrusive knee surgeries would have been far less traumatic on his body, and he would have continued to play productively far longer. To assess why Mantle was viewed in his time as the best player in the game, merely review his career numbers at age 32 with Mays and Aaron, and the comparison is eye-popping. The sole shortcoming I see in Castro's book is that he fails to place Mantle's career in proper perspective. This might continue to fuel the misconception that Mantle's talents were overrated.

Rating:
Summary: SORRY
Review: Well, sorry to be the only one in disagreement, but this is a trivial and sophomoric book with absolutely nothing original in it. First off, I did live during Mickey's time, and I knew him casually. There are a lot of books describing Mickey's faults, all of which he admitted to himself. The pop psychology, done from a distance, with just the right amount of politically correct sociology really gets old in sports books. The Author contradicts himself several times and does not understand at all the mentality of managers or players in the late 40's and 50's. He gets off on the strangest tangents, and I can't for the life of me figure out what he was driving at. It's a pointless book that reminds me of an article in a checkout stand tabloid. Skip this, get Golenbock's "Dynasty" or "Wild, High and Tight".