8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE MICK, August 17, 2007
This review is from: A Great Teammate: The Legend of Mickey Mantle (Paperback)
My kids grew up wanting to BE LIKE MIKE. Like many of my generation, I always wanted to be like Mick. THE MICK.
Mickey Mantle was, for us, the consummate baseball player. He hit the ball hard and ran the bases fast. His arm was strong and his glove golden.
But that's only part of why he was our hero. Randall Swearingen's book, A Great Teammate, covers the rest. Mickey was one of the greatest team players the game has ever known. He found a way to win. One day he'd hit a home run. The next he'd bunt and steal--or literally outrun a fly ball. It added up. Between 1951 and 1964, Mickey's Yankees made twelve trips to the World Series. Twelve!
When his teammates batted, Mickey cheered. When they slumped, he took them to dinner. When Roger wilted in the Babe's mighty shadow, Mickey took him under his wing and into his home--even as The Mick took his own shot at THE RECORD.
Mickey played hurt nearly every game of his major league career because, as a rookie, he deferred to a teammate named Joe DiMaggio. Mickey never complained or made excuses. He just came to the park early, took his treatments, hid the pain, and played hard. As good as he was, he could have been even better with two legs rather than one.
When asked why he didn't take himself out of the lineup to rest the legs, Mickey replied that some child might come to the ball park to watch him play, and he didn't want to let that child down. Mickey didn't know it, but I was that child. My family drove from North Carolina to New York City in 1961. It was the only chance I ever had, as a kid, to watch a major league game. Mickey didn't disappoint: he hit a line drive into the right field bleachers for a home run. From then on, Mickey was my hero. And, like so many southerners in those days, I became, of all things, a Yankee.
Then came the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Sportswriters forgot who Mickey Mantle was and why he had been our hero. They publicized his alcoholism. His business failures. His divorce. If only he had fallen in his prime, they implied, like Gehrig with ALS or Ruth with cancer. But somehow he dodged the Hodgkin's curse. And even though alcoholism is every bit as much a disease as ALS, or cancer, or Hodgkin's, America stopped loving Mickey the way he had loved us. We forgot. And, I must admit, as I almost forgot.
Then I read A Great Teammate, and the memories came pouring back. Mickey winning games for his team. Mickey bringing out the best in his teammates. Mickey loving and respecting the game. Playing hard. Playing hurt. Always humble. Ever helpful. Never making excuses. And, in bottom of the 9th, whipping his toughest foe, alcoholism, and helping others do the same.
No doubt, Old Timers told these stories time and again at ball games, fantasy camps, reunions, and funerals. But, no one ever bothered to write them down for us, the fans. Until now. Mickey, Randall: thank you.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mantle family feels dad would love this book., May 1, 2007
This review is from: A Great Teammate: The Legend of Mickey Mantle (Paperback)
It was very important to our dad that he be remembered as a great teammate and this book does an excellent job of explaining why he was admired, not only by the fans but his teammates and opponents as well. Randall went to great lengths to research the relevant details of key events in dad's career in order to show the magnitude of dad's courage, competitiveness, loyalty, determination, athleticism and perseverance both on and off the field. Randall spent time with dad and his teammates at the Mickey Mantle fantasy camps and his knowledge and love of dad really shows in this book. Reading the book brought back many great memories and magically transported us back in time to our childhood. The Mantle family gives this book a big "thumbs up" and wishes to extend our heartfelt thanks to Randall for writing this inspiring and enjoyable book that beautifully echoes our deep love and respect for our dad. "A true teammate". - Merlyn, David and Danny Mantle
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heroic, Inspirational, Tragic Figure ..., April 25, 2007
This review is from: A Great Teammate: The Legend of Mickey Mantle (Paperback)
Excellent chronology of many highlights of Mickey's career ... especially the descriptions of those monsterous home runs ... no one before or since has had "power for distance" that Mickey had ... lists his lifetime stats, offense and defense, in the back of the book ...
the numerous descriptions of Mickey by his beloved teamates gives the reader clear insight into what kind of person Mickey was ...
the quintessential teammate who gave everything he had on and off the field to win and help his teammates ... e.g., playing in tremendous amounts of pain (so as not to disappoint, in case the father of a poor family took his boy once a year to see him play); at restaurants, picking up "the check" most of the time; insisting that old teammates come to autograph sessions (or he wouldn't attend) so they could make money too; and the lovable prankster (the "TP" prank)...
truly a one of a kind, the last of the 4 great Yankees (Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle), one of those who really was head and shoulders above the rest, and he was the last player to connect us to the baseball of a by-gone era ...
and to prove it all, he's got his own 4,500 lb. monument in Center Field! I could go on and on ... but ... the book is well worth the money ... buy it!
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