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.
Guided by Tony Castro, bestselling author and foremost chronicler of Mantle, readers will journey into history, from the Yankees' blockbuster trade for Maris, whose acquisition re-ignited Mantle's career after a horrendous 1959 season, to the heroics of 1961 and far beyond. This dual biography is a thoroughly researched, emotionally gripping portrait that brings Yankees lore alive.
Few figures in American sports have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Roger Maris. Castro's biography gives Maris his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that his slugging and baseball greatness were the result of Roger's countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. "To repudiate his legacy," Castro writes, "is, in many ways, to repudiate the modern home run hitter." Castro's portrait of Roger is a Maris far more human than we've encountered before--from his rise as the son of Eastern European immigrants to his fiery aspirations to beat Yankee fan favorite Mickey Mantle to the most cherished record in all sports.