There has probably never been a professional baseball player more of a puzzle than Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio had a talent for keeping his emotions suppressed and his innermost thoughts to himself. Few could say that they really knew him. And even the ones who did found him to be unpredictable. He was a walking contradiction. He was quiet, but not necessarily shy. He could be both gracious and abrupt, approachable or aloof depending on the situation. Although he came across as humble, he had a tremendous sense of entitlement. He was complex, secretive, inscrutable. There were many layers to the man who came to be affectionately known as the "Yankee Clipper." DiMaggio always felt that his actions on the field should do the talking for him. And for the most part, they did. To many, DiMaggio personified elegance, style, and grace. An impeccable dresser, he was married to two glamorous actresses. On the field, he glided almost effortlessly, never having to dive for a ball and rarely (if ever) making a mistake on the basepaths. He became the living embodiment of the American dream and a symbol of the country's so-called "greatest generation." But as time marched on, DiMaggio grew increasingly distrustful of the people around him. It was understandable-inevitable even. The third book in Jonathan Week's Yankees trilogy contains an abundance of anecdotes, statistics, and other little known facts about the Yankee Clipper.
Jonathan Weeks has published several nonfiction books on the topic of baseball, most recently The Lore of the Bambino: 100 Great Babe Ruth Stories and The Legend of the Mick. Additionally, he has two novels to his credit-one of them a posthumous collaboration with his father.
A fine compendium of all things Mickey Mantle, perfect for a longtime fan looking to revisit the past or a new fan just beginning to learn about "The Mick." Keep this by your chair all season long.--Glenn Stout, author of Yankee Century , Fenway 1912 , and Young Woman and the Sea If you loved Mickey Mantle as I did, you will love Jon Weeks's well-researched, intimate biography of the Yankee icon. You'll learn many interesting details of Mickey's life that you never knew before as you travel with him from his threadbare childhood in Commerce, Oklahoma to his stardom and acclaim in New York and through his checkered baseball after-life.--Peter Golenbock, author of 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel
