About book The Last Boy (Enhanced Edition): Mickey Mantle And The End Of America's Childhood (2010)
The main qualms that led me to three stars instead of higher is the organization of the book. It jumped around way too much. Am I too traditional that I like a simple beginning-to-end-of-life biography? From chapter-to-chapter I had to double-check what year or even decade I was in. Not a huge deal usually, but with something as finite as a baseball career it really would have been helpful. Getting that out of the way, I have to say this opened my eyes to what a talent Mickey Mantle really was. Growing up, I knew Mantle was a legend, I knew my Dad was a huge fan (and I wished he had a chance to read this book), I knew that the Yankee line of succession went pretty much Ruth-Gehrig-DiMaggio-Mantle and I knew that Mantle had a bad injury when he caught his leg in a drain in the outfield of Yankee Stadium. I didn't know a whole lot else.I didn't know that the big injury happened the very first year he even hit the big leagues, essentially handicapping him his whole career. Primitive sports medicine at the time led him to play the remaining years on what was basically a perpetually torn ACL.That was a recurring theme throughout the book really: the total lack of quality medical care, coupled with an ambivalent patient in no rush to comply with what was (often wrongly) diagnosed. I have to say his alcoholism, at least as described in this book, doesn't seem to be the deciding factor in his career. His injuries exponentially outweigh any damage the drinking did to his on-field performance. I can't imagine any of today's players even attempting to play with his ailments. It is abundantly clear that the drinking shortened his life, ruined his family and generally made his post-baseball career a disastrous mess, but if someone tells you it was what prevented him from being the best baseball player ever, they simply don't know the full story. Leaving an exposed drain in the middle of the Yankee Stadium outfield did what no combination of drinks could ever do.From all accounts in the book, an injury-free Mantle would have been the fastest, most-powerful hitter to ever play the game. The fact that he was steroid-free and under six-feet tall makes you wonder what planet he even came from. As far as the post-baseball career goes, it is basically the same exact story that you can find with any number of celebrities & superstars once their glory days are over. Bad investments and substance abuse.Wealthy celebrities should not be allowed to buy restaurants, car-washes, hotels, bars or any private business really. If they would just invest in an index fund or even a few blue-chip stocks they could avoid all these financial problems! I suppose the problem is that you can't take your friends and hangers-on to an index fund for free drinks. I am a big baseball fan and I love to read about the icons of the game. Admittedly I am not a Yankees fan so I found it a bit strange picking up this book. But Mickey Mantle is touted as one of the all time greats so I gave it a go.This one started out great, talking about Mickey's first world series appearance and how he hurt his knee and his apparent dislike for Joe DiMaggio. I was hooked - that is what I was looking for - antic dotes about his career, how he interacted with other players etc.Then along comes the never ending chapter about one single home run he hit early in his career. Possibly one of the longest home runs ever hit. That was cool but good gracious let it go already. the author just carries on and on about how far it went, who did or did not find the ball, was the original measuring of the distance a scam. I want stories of Mantle not this never ending scientific research on the distance of a hit ball.I would like to think there was more to Mantles career.I could not take it any more - I gave up on the book.maybe a true Yankees fan will stick with it.
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I'll admit I knew almost nothing about Mickey Mantle except he was a great baseball player.
—nabeela
This author was obviously too emotionally attached to her subject.
—Martinha
