Mickey and Willie

Baseball biographer Allen Barra describes the parallels in the lives of baseball greats Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, whose long careers overlapped. Andrew Garman sounds as if he is narrating a documentary--his comfortable voice describes the subjects with emotion and drama but not too much. When it comes to quotes, he puts on a slight Southern accent for Mays and a bit of a twang for Mantle. Barra does a balanced job of revealing the players' accomplishments and flaws, and Garman animates the biography with just the right amount of emphasis. Barra, who inserts himself into the book on occasion, knows his subjects. Garman's narration sets the tone and keeps to a good pace. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2013

Veteran sportswriter Barra (Rickwood Field: A Century in America's Oldest Ballpark) chronicles the careers, personal lives, and legacies of two baseball legends. Bouncing back and forth between Mantle and Mays, this anecdotally constructed dual biography places their stories side by side for easy comparison, successfully showing how they shared painful pasts, wildly successful careers, and struggles with the exigencies of fame. Flamboyant and hard-living Yankee fan-favorite Mantle and the more reticent and anxiety-ridden Mays of the Giants and Mets were rivals on the field and close friends off it; their interactions from the minor leagues through the majors and into their sometimes rocky retirement years are the highlight of this engaging, well-written book that is heavy on statistics, game accounts, and insights and opinions from a variety of sportswriters and former teammates. The prolific Andrew Garman provides a pleasing narration. VERDICT Recommended to baseball fans and historians. ["Part memoir, part baseball history, part biography, this book is sure to be a winner with multiple audiences: fans, historians, and nonspecialists alike. Highly recommended," read the review of the Crown hc, LJ Xpress Reviews, 3/7/13.--Ed.]--Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia

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