The Last Boy

by Jane Leavy
p. 387

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. There are the extraordinary people that do extraordinary things, the ordinary people that do extraordinary things, and just the simple folks that live their lives by example. Micky Mantle was a "hero" that perhaps fit into all those categories. In Jane Leavy's thorough examination of the life and legend of Micky Mantle she explores not only the legacy of NY Yankees' "the Mick" but also the boy from the small town of Commerce OK.
Micky Mantle never intended to be a "hero." His love for baseball came from a desire to please his father, Mutt; that pushed his oldest son to be the player he never was. Throughout his amazing baseball career, statistics put Mantle in the stratosphere of "super athlete" and he was a combination of desire, determination and physical ability that created one of the best athletes the word has ever witnessed. Yet in expert hands, Jan Leavy also gives us a glimpse of Micky Mantle, the "tragic" hero that could never satisfy his inner critic and whose hard life and lifestyle manufactured the what-if's that surrounded his life.
Mantle was never my hero. As a child growing up in St Louis, my baseball heroes were Musial, Boyer, Gibson and Flood. After reading "The Last Boy" I have added Mantle's name to my list.
For those who love baseball, I give this book a Rock. Chalk, Jay, Hawk!!!!