Mickey and Willie
Mantle and Mays, The Parallel Lives of Baseball's Golden Age

There have been many bios written about Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle but Allen Barra, the author of this one had a great idea ; since the two were so often compared why not write a bio about the both of them, comparing their upbringings, their playing careers, and their retirement years ? These wer......more

The topic is interesting - taking two famous ballplayers and comparing their lives. I am still learning about many of the greats of baseball. Growing up not far from Commerce, OK I have always known the name Mickey Mantel even thought I do not come from a baseball family. I really didn't know anythi......more

Probably not the definitive biography of either ballplayer, since there are plenty of biographies and "autobiographies" that focus on one or the other, but this certainly cover the bases (no pun intended), in a different way. Because, interestingly, they had parallel careers and lives --- both born......more

Really enjoyed reading this book. Barra does a good job of writing in an integrated fashion, jumping back and forth between the lives of Mantle and Mays highlights his subtitle of parallel their lives were. The book isn't in depth as it could be, but what was fascinating to me what seeing Barra alte......more