He was larger than life on a ball field and, as it turned out, larger than death when he touched a nation's heart in the face of his fatal illness.This was Mickey Mantle, described by many as the last great player on baseball's last great team, the New York Yankees of the 1950s and early 1960s. He was cheered, and imitated, and loved in a way that no player may be again - a country kid out of Oklahoma, who began his career with good legs and made it to the Hall of Fame on two gimpy ones.Had he stayed healthy, there's no telling what level of baseball greatness he could have achieved. As it was, he hit 536 home runs, set records, won games with a dramatic flair, and became a legend. Mantle and the Yankees went to the World Series in twelve of his first fourteen seasons, a feat that isn't likely to be repeated.In a series of vignettes and anecdotes that are touching and funny and genuine is a portrait of Mickey Mantle that captures the two sides of him - the hero who was human, the icon with a touch of Peck's Bad Boy. Read Less