Mantle, Tony Castro
Mantle, Tony Castro
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Mantle
The Best There Ever Was

Author: Tony Castro

Narrator: Michael Butler Murray

Unabridged: 9 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/30/2019


Synopsis

In Mantle: The Best There Ever Was, Mickey Mantle biographer Tony Castro brings to life the man who is arguably not only the greatest ballplayer of his time but also the greatest ballplayer of all time. Castro offers illuminating new insight into Mantle's extraordinary career, including the head-turning conclusion based on the evolution of analytics that the beloved Yankee switch-hitting slugger may ultimately win acclaim as having fulfilled the weighty expectations once placed on him: of being greater than even Babe Ruth. Mantle himself believed he would one day be the one to break Ruth's single season home run record.

Mantle: The Best There Ever Was completes Castro's Mickey Mantle Trilogy that includes Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son, which the New York Times has called the best biography ever written about the Hall of Fame icon, and DiMag & Mick: Sibling Rivals, Yankee Blood Brothers. Its publication comes on the eve of the commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mantle's death.

About Tony Castro

Tony Castro, whom the New York Times has called the definitive biographer of Mickey Mantle, is a Harvard and Baylor-educated historian and author of seven books. Mantle: The Best There Ever Was is the finale of his Mickey Mantle Trilogy, which includes Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son and DiMag & Mick: Sibling Rivals, Yankee Blood Brothers. His other books include Gehrig & the Babe: The Friendship and the Feud and Hemingway: Spain, The Bullfights, and A Final Rite of Passage.

Tony is also the author of the landmark civil rights history Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America, which Publishers Weekly acclaimed as "brilliant . . . a valuable contribution to the understanding of our time."

His poignant coming-of-age memoir The Prince of South Waco: American Dreams and Great Expectations was hailed by distinguished Texas editor and educator Tony Pederson for its "startling and frequently disturbing insights into growing up Hispanic and talented in Texas in the 1950s and 1960s. He lays bare the tortured and sometimes heartbreaking soul of his youth and life as a young adult."

As a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, Tony studied under Homeric scholar and translator Robert Fitzgerald, Mexican Nobel laureate Octavio Paz, and French history scholars Laurence Wylie and Stanley Hoffman.

Tony lives in Los Angeles with his wife Renee LaSalle and Jeter, their black Labrador retriever. Their two grown sons, Trey and Ryan, also reside in Southern California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mark on August 02, 2019

Being a marque celebrity is not always great, as it will naturally test one’s character. Mickey Mantle faced this experience when he moved from Oklahoma to Manhattan, as a 19 year old teenage New York Yankees rookie sensation. The gifted athlete, who was a foul mouthed alcoholic, did have a few posi......more

Goodreads review by Megan on April 14, 2020

I appreciated the different perspective as far as how fame affected Mantle and the relationship between father and son was interesting. The author was clearly a fan of Mantle, and it seems like all objectivity went out the window with regard to his behavior. How did his his affair affect anyone else......more

Goodreads review by Aidan on December 17, 2021

I enjoyed this book a lot. The main thing I enjoyed about how there were many stories in it of his baseball career. There were many stories of when he was younger and his new life in New York. The story discribed his struggles and the adversity he has went through. I think that the book could be imp......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on May 09, 2024

The third and final biography of Mantle by the author. Touches upon important moments in Mantle’s life from his rookie season injury, to his triple crown season and features background from his wife and mistress. Chapters are framed using dreams Mantle had and shared with the author.......more

Goodreads review by Andy on May 22, 2023

A fantastic book. Tony Castro is one hell of a writer. And, of course, there's the magic of Mantle. Wonderful!......more