Tony Castro's America

'Mantle: The Best There Ever Was'

Get ready for spring training with the best read of the season, Mantle: The Best There Ever Was, from Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. #MantleTheBest http://mickeymantle.live

'Gehrig & The Babe' Best Book of the Year Finalist

Good news. Just been notified that GEHRIG & THE BABE is a finalist for the Casey Award given out to the best baseball book of the year! #GehrigTheBabe https://amzn.to/2JL9Lgt

The Best There Ever Was, Book Trailer

This book trailer is for New York Times bestselling author Tony Castro's forthcoming Mantle: The Best There Ever Was from Rowman & Littlefield International. Pre-order at Amazon.

A Winter in Paris

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Mantle: The Best There Ever Was

'She's Big for 12'

At long last, someone has figured out her secret!

Babe Ruth to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

The Babe and Julia Ruth Stevens, the adopted daughter from his marriage to Claire Hodgson

Julia Ruth Stevens, the 102-year old daughter of Babe Ruth has issued the following statement hat the baseball legend will be a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom this Friday, to be presented by President Donald Trump:

"George Herman 'Babe' Ruth is an American icon who is still revered today for his amazing baseball abilities. When he retired, he held over 50 American and Major League records for pitching and hitting, several of which still stand today. Babe was a real life example of the American dream. Unable to find the time or desire to parent, George’s mother and father put him in an industrial school for boys when he was 7. He grew up to become an American Legend and the first world-renowned sports celebrity.

"One aspect of his life of which we are most proud, however, are his efforts off the field. Throughout his life, Babe visited thousands of children in hospitals and orphanages. He regularly stood outside ballparks for hours after baseball games signing autographs. He paid hospital bills for people he barely knew. He supported over 100 charities and foundations over the course of his life.

"Of German descent himself, he publicly spoke out against the German persecution of Jews in the years leading up to the American entry into WW II and participated in numerous charitable events that raised funds for the war effort. Everyone was equal in Babe’s eyes --rich or poor, white or black. Living in a time when segregation was a normal course of life, he called many African Americans friends, including Joe Louis and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. He regularly played barnstorming games against Negro League teams and encouraged the concept of integrated baseball far ahead of its time. It was this open-mindedness, his advocacy for player’s rights, and his general outspokenness, that likely prevented him from fulfilling his second lifelong dream -- to manage a Major League team. It is for all these reasons that the Ruth Family considers Babe an American hero and are justifiably proud that he’s being recognized for his contributions to American society and culture with the Presidential Medal of Freedom."

The Myth of The Sleeping Giant

DID THE LATINO VOTE in Texas let down Democratic political darling Beto O'Rourke? Did the Latino Vote fail to drive the anticipated Blue Wave that was suppose to sweep across America in response to President Donald Trump's border wall, demonization of immigrants and political exploitation of the Central American migrant caravan headed to the U.S.

In the coming days we'll hear commentators and pundits expound on the Latino Vote and how once again it failed to materialize. Look at poor Beto as proof. The Sleeping Giant, they call it.

But it will take some powerful documentation to convince me. A few weeks ago I did an informal poll of my extended family in Texas. It is no ordinary family. One of my aunts had almost 20 kids Another a dozen, maybe more. Growing up in football crazed Texas, I used to joke that two or three of my aunts alone could field teams out of their immediate families.

Would you believe that today my extended family numbers in the hundreds, and that's just the legitimate ones, living all over the Lone Star State.

And my poll? More than two-thirds told me that they were voting for Ted Cruz. Only about 20 percent said they would vote for Beto. The others wouldn't say how they were voting.

Mantle: The Best There Ever Was

Buy the Book

Mantle: The Best There Ever Was

Tony Castro’s Mantle: The Best There Ever Was, a book featuring the last interview with Mickey Mantle's widow and previously unpublished interviews with the New York Yankee legend, uses baseball’s growing science of ‘sabermetrics,' a re-analysis of his statistics and a reassessment of his career to maintain — with growing agreement among expects — that The Mick was the greatest ballplayer not only of his era but also of all-time... to Christen Karniski at Rowman and Littlefield, for publication in the spring of 2019. 

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