This book completes the author’s trilogy on Mickey Mantle. It is filled with accounts by many people associated with “The Mick,” and Castro exploits the book’s subtitle throughout its 20 chapters, divided into three parts: “The Best There Was,” “The Best There Is,” and “The Best There Ever Will Be.” In the epilogue, Castro continues making his case for Mantle being the best ballplayer ever. He recalls that in his last conversation with Merlyn Mantle, Mickey's widow, as they explored Mantle's mystique, they had remembered a 1981 Rolling Stone magazine cover of the late Jim Morrison (lead singer of the rock band The Doors), which proclaimed: “He’s hot, he’s sexy, and he’s dead.” Merlyn commented: “Oh, dear lord ... You know, Mickey being the way he was and that crazy sense of humor of his, that’s something he would haveloved on his gravestone" (p. 226). This book brings Mantle to life in all his complicated facets. From his greatness as an athlete and ballplayer — permanently marked by his injury in the 1951 World Series — to his raucous lifestyle in New York and later in Texas, Castro brings readers the highs and lows of Mantle’s life, creating an intimate portrait and a fascinating look at an American hero.
This review appears in the November 2019 issue of CHOICE, a publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries — A division of the American Library Association
— D. K. McKim, formerly, Memphis Theological Seminary
Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.
