More than any other athlete, Mickey Mantle was the American hero whose life personified the great expectations and unfulfilled dreams of the twentieth century. Hailed by Casey Stengel as the next Ruth and successor to DiMaggio, Mantle would become the first true sports icon of the television age. In Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son, former Sports Illustrated writer Tony Castro recounts a story of fathers and sons, rebels and heroes, and a youth's rite of passage. He interviewed over 250 of Mantle's friends, teammates, lovers, acquaintances, and drinking partners, producing an explosive biography of one of the world's most fascinating sports heroes and a telling look at the American society of his time.

Award-winning sports writer Jane Leavy follows her New York Times runaway bestseller Sandy Koufax with the definitive biography of baseball icon Mickey Mantle. The legendary Hall-of-Fame outfielder was a national hero during his record-setting career with the New York Yankees, but public revelations of alcoholism, infidelity, and family strife badly tarnished the ballplayer's reputation in his latter years. In The Last Boy, Leavy plumbs the depths of the complex athlete, using copious first-hand research as well as her own memories, to show why The Mick remains the most beloved and misunderstood Yankee slugger of all time.

A look at the life and career of the famous baseball player.

Mickey Mantle, the hayseed kid from Spavinaw, Oklahoma, was in his sixth year with the Yankees. He was already America's homerun king. He was about to become a national hero. 1956 would be a record-breaking season: the golden summer fans would remember forever. Now Mickey Mantle brings it all back just the way it happened--spectacular playing on field, crazy hijinks with Whitey Ford and Billy Martin off. There never was a time like it before in baseball. There never will be again. It was magic.

In this first-ever illustrated biography published with the support of the Mantle family, the authors cover Mickey Mantle's entire life, from his impoverished youth to his glorious career to his poignant sunset years. It features rare photos and never-before-seen memorabilia, with ten pull-out, removable facsimiles.

The ONLY nonfiction picture book about New York Yankee Mickey Mantle, one of the greatest baseball players of all time. From award-winning author Jonah Winter and #1 New York Times bestselling artist C. F. Payne comes this extraordinary picture-book biography that traces Mickey Mantle’s unparalleled baseball career. He could run from home plate to first base in 2.9 seconds. He could hit a ball 540 feet—the longest home run in major league history. He was the greatest switch hitter ever to play the game. And he did it all despite broken bones, pulled muscles, strains, and sprains, from his shoulders to his feet. How did a poor country boy from Commerce, Oklahoma, become one of the greatest and most beloved baseball players of all time? This is the story.

Acclaimed sportswriter Allen Barra exposes the uncanny parallels--and lifelong friendship--between two of the greatest baseball players ever to take the field. Culturally, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were light-years apart. Yet they were nearly the same age and almost the same size, and they came to New York at the same time. They possessed virtually the same talents and played the same position. They were both products of generations of baseball-playing families, for whom the game was the only escape from a lifetime of brutal manual labor. Both were nearly crushed by the weight of the outsized expectations placed on them, first by their families and later by America. Both lived secret lives far different from those their fans knew. What their fans also didn't know was that the two men shared a close personal friendship--and that each was the only man who could truly understand the other's experience.

The wife and sons of baseball great Mickey Mantle tell the story of their private lives with a husband and father who was always in the public eye and almost never home, discussing their battles with alcoholism and sharing details of the closeness they were finally able to attain in Mickey's final years.

Join The Sporting News for a fascinating journey through one of baseball's most magical seasons--the Summer of '61.

A unique baseball reference that re-creates the excitement of Mickey Mantle's extraordinary home runs, tracking his career from rookie sensation through the glory years of the Yankees with Yogi Berra and Roger Maris. 16 pages of photographs.