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thetbrstack's review
5.0
An amazing book about an amazing man and character. Exhaustively researched, exquisitely written.
uscrx's review
4.0
This is the 4th biography I've read about Mickey Mantle. he was my favorite player growing up, and I thought he was THE man.
He led a tragic life, as is well known. This book is probably the last one that needs to be written. The author interviewed countless friends, acquaintances, family, and recounts the life of the Mick that so many didn't see. I finished the book with such a hollow feeling - such talent, and not much character in the man. Recommended.
He led a tragic life, as is well known. This book is probably the last one that needs to be written. The author interviewed countless friends, acquaintances, family, and recounts the life of the Mick that so many didn't see. I finished the book with such a hollow feeling - such talent, and not much character in the man. Recommended.
rkerwin's review
4.0
One of the greatest offensive baseball players in history. There's alot more to the story of The Mick. This book doesn't leave much out.
lemonpudge's review
5.0
Very, very, very well written. That's right folks--3 verys. I knew virtually nothing about Mickey Mantle before reading this book--now I am a Mickey Mantle genius. Ok, so maybe not a genius, but I did learn why so many baseball fans still worship him. He was far more complex an individual that I ever thought & I found this book has enriched my life & my sports anecdotes.
jakewritesbooks's review
4.0
Less a conventional biopic on The Mick and more a look at his life vis-a-vis his legend and the backdrop of postwar America. Not as thorough as I would’ve liked but still riveting given how Jane Leavy presents her subject.
davygibbs's review
5.0
I was never particularly drawn to Mickey Mantle personally, but it's hard to argue what he means to the game. More than any other player of the Boomer era, he represents the sport -- there is something so undeniably American about his life and personality (in both the good and the regrettable ways). That's the reason I thought reading a biography of him might scratch the spring baseball itch this year and a little bit of research brought me to this title -- if not the consensus "best Mantle bio" then awfully close to it. And it's hard to argue. The Last Boy is certainly one of the very best baseball books I've ever read -- in the conversation for best, period -- one of the best biographies I've ever read too. Leavy writes with passion, talent, and nostalgia, and wide open eyes. It's hard to imagine the Mick's story being done more justice than it is here. Highly recommended.
citizen_noir's review
4.0
One of my favorite books as young boy was a biography about Mickey Mantle. I checked it out of the little town library we used to go to in Bridgewater, CT, and became utterly obsessed with the story, reading and re-reading it 15 times. I was always a Yankees fan growing up, but Mantle's final game was in 1968, when I was all of one-year-old, so it's not as if I ever saw him play. Still, Mantle's story transfixed me. Now after reading Jane Leavy's marvelous biography, THE LAST BOY: MICKEY MANTLE AND THE END OF AMERICA'S CHILDHOOD, I realize that what captivated me then about Mantle still captivates me today: the "What if?" aspect to his incredible life.
What if Mantle hadn't grown up the son of a demanding coal miner who decided early on that his son would be a baseball player? What if Mantle hadn't come from a legacy of men who died far too young? What if Mantle hadn't blown out his knee during the World Series in just his rookie year? What if Mantle hadn't been repeatedly sexually abused by a half-sister and a boy in the neighborhood while growing up? What if Mantle hadn't been a raging alcoholic through his adult life? What if Mantle hadn't treated women so poorly?
In the biography I read as a boy, the book only covered the first three aspects of the "What if?" to Mantle's story - a demanding and somewhat unloving father, a fatalism about how short he would live, and a terrible knee injury that caused him to play in pain through his entire career. Thankfully, Jane Leavy has provided the full story of Mantle - adding the non-heroic details of alcoholism, sexual abuse, and womanizing - that create a real picture of him.
Make no mistake, Leavy was a huge fan of Mantle's while growing up and remains one to this day. At times she seems reluctant to share these non-heroic details of her childhood hero. Many of these personal details come out when she recounts a weekend she spent with Mantle at a charity golf event in 1983 where she'd gone to interview him for a newspaper article. At the event, Leavy witnesses the good and bad of Mantle: from his generosity when he spots her shivering in the cold and gets her a sweater, to his heavy drinking, and eventually to his drunken pass at her late one evening, resulting in him falling asleep on her lap. As she recounts early on in the book:
In spite of all of these "What ifs?" Mantle had one of the most storied careers in Major League Baseball history. Perhaps no other player (including during the steroid era) has ever displayed the exceptional combination of power and speed. Before his knee injury, he was the fastest player ever recorded from home to first base. As a switch hitter, he slugged the ball so far it spawned the term "tape measure" home run.
Leavy is a remarkable journalist; her list of interviews for the Mantle book has to be in the hundreds of people, and she diligently tracks down the truth behind many famous Mantle moments. Leavy is coming out with a biography of Babe Ruth later this year. I'll be sure to reserve it as soon as DCPL lists it.
What if Mantle hadn't grown up the son of a demanding coal miner who decided early on that his son would be a baseball player? What if Mantle hadn't come from a legacy of men who died far too young? What if Mantle hadn't blown out his knee during the World Series in just his rookie year? What if Mantle hadn't been repeatedly sexually abused by a half-sister and a boy in the neighborhood while growing up? What if Mantle hadn't been a raging alcoholic through his adult life? What if Mantle hadn't treated women so poorly?
In the biography I read as a boy, the book only covered the first three aspects of the "What if?" to Mantle's story - a demanding and somewhat unloving father, a fatalism about how short he would live, and a terrible knee injury that caused him to play in pain through his entire career. Thankfully, Jane Leavy has provided the full story of Mantle - adding the non-heroic details of alcoholism, sexual abuse, and womanizing - that create a real picture of him.
Make no mistake, Leavy was a huge fan of Mantle's while growing up and remains one to this day. At times she seems reluctant to share these non-heroic details of her childhood hero. Many of these personal details come out when she recounts a weekend she spent with Mantle at a charity golf event in 1983 where she'd gone to interview him for a newspaper article. At the event, Leavy witnesses the good and bad of Mantle: from his generosity when he spots her shivering in the cold and gets her a sweater, to his heavy drinking, and eventually to his drunken pass at her late one evening, resulting in him falling asleep on her lap. As she recounts early on in the book:
I saw the best and worst of The Mick during the weekend I spent with him in Atlantic City but I wrote little of the latter in the piece that appeared in The Washington Post. In 1983, it would have been a firing offense to write what had really happened. Today it would be a firing offense not to write it - one measure of how much the landscape of public discourse has changed.
In spite of all of these "What ifs?" Mantle had one of the most storied careers in Major League Baseball history. Perhaps no other player (including during the steroid era) has ever displayed the exceptional combination of power and speed. Before his knee injury, he was the fastest player ever recorded from home to first base. As a switch hitter, he slugged the ball so far it spawned the term "tape measure" home run.
Leavy is a remarkable journalist; her list of interviews for the Mantle book has to be in the hundreds of people, and she diligently tracks down the truth behind many famous Mantle moments. Leavy is coming out with a biography of Babe Ruth later this year. I'll be sure to reserve it as soon as DCPL lists it.