Memories of Mickey Mantle

(Book summary from inside and back cover)

"Memories of Mickey Mantle" is a bittersweet blend of funny, sad, embarrassing and touching moments in the livesof Mickey Mantle and his closest friend of almost fifty years, Marshall Smith.

Through the recollections of Marshall Smith, we learn what made "The Mick" the man he was.  This naive kid who grew up in a poor, working class family from Commerce, OK, became the idol of a nation.  The price he paid (along the way) for his fame and adulation was not without a great deal of pain.  He endured the fear of Hodgkin's Disease which claimed three generations of Mantle men; alcoholism visited his wife, all of his sons and Mickey himself and the constant lack of privacy was part of his every day routine.

Although he never fully understood why people always craved his autograph or wanted his picture, he did his best to accommodate his fans.  He often felt that the only place he could be himself was on the golf course.

In the end, through conquering his alcoholism, facing his illness with courage and dignity and sharing his humanity with us, he became truly worthy of our admiration.