AMERICA'S ORIGINAL HERO, THE MICK IS THE GREATEST * From Tony Castro, the New York Times bestselling author, comes this brilliant re-evaluation of Mickey Mantle — of whom even Joe DiMaggio begrudgingly told the author: "to say there was anyone better in the game, to say there was anyone better than Mantle is what we Italians would call 'un sacco di stronzate,' a load of crap." In Mantle: The Best There Ever Was, Tony Castro makes the impassioned argument that Mickey Mantle truly was the greatest ballplayer of all time.

"An American literary stylistic masterpiece... Tony Castro paints Mickey Mantle with the pinstripe magic of Garcia Marquez phantasmagoria and realism..."

—Tom Wolfe

THE M&M BOYS: A PROFILE IN CIVILITY is how presidential historian Michael Beschloss described them more than half a century later, harkening back to a golden age in baseball and America that Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle helped define every bit as much as John F. Kennedy.

MARIS & MANTLE: Two Yankees, Immortality and the Age of Camelot is the first, epic and true story of the Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle friendship forever intertwined in baseball history thanks to the unforgettable 1961 season, when the two Yankee icons spurred each other to new heights in pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record. History has largely overlooked the bond between the two men not as titans of their sport, but as people.

What The New York Times praised as the definitive biography of baseball and pop culture icon Mickey Mantle by the acclaimed Sports Illustrated writer who knew The Mick personally, played golf with him often and has authored an historic Mickey Mantle biographical quadrilogy. Historian Tony Castro explores the life of the great cultural icon baseball slugger against a 20th century backdrop of America's romance with boldness, its celebration of muscle, and its comfort in power during a time when might did make right. Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son is a telling look at the American society of his time. During six years of research, Tony Castro interviewed more than 500 friends, teammates, lovers, acquaintances, and drinking buddies of one of America's most famous sports heroes.

In what Rolling Stone called "an epic The Natural meets The Rookie buddy drama," DiMag & Mick pulls back the curtain on the real, untold story of American pop cultural legends Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle in 1951 as an aging, ailing Joltin' Joe prepares to leave the superstar stage of New York City while The Mick struggles stepping into the hero's cleats at Yankee Stadium — so raise the curtain on Broadway! 

"A dream of a book..." —Chicago Tribune.

DiMag & Mick is the critically-acclaimed portrait of the two baseball stars, and historian Tony Castro magnificently paints Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle in the pivotal setting of 1951: DiMaggio's farewell season and Mantle's rookie year.

Mickey Mantle's iconic Topps 'rookie' card recently sold for $12.6 million. And it carries that same memorable image of the 19-year-old Mickey you'll find on author Tony Castro's MANTLE: THE BEST THERE EVER WAS book cover and now on our T-shirt celebrating The Mick and this bestselling biography.

A native Texan educated at Baylor and Harvard, Tony Castro is an American historian and bestselling author. His books include the landmark 1974 civil rights history Chicano Power, the 2016 literary biography Looking for Hemingway, and the Mickey Mantle biographical quadrilogy.

He is currently working on a biography of Napoleon Bonaparte and a book about faith, fame, and nostalgia in America.

Formerly a national correspondent for the Washington Post, Tony was a columnist and political writer for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and a senior writer for Sports Illustrated.

Tony and his wife Renee LaSalle live in Los Angeles.