In Peter Golenbock's shocking and revealing first novel, Mickey Mantle tells the hidden story of his life as a baseball hero, and asks for forgiveness from his friends and family. If the revelations in Jim Bouton's Ball Four were the first crack in the Mantle legend, then 7 smashes the myth to reveal the human being within.
Best-selling sportswriter Peter Golenbock knew Mickey Mantle, many of Mantle's friends, family members, and teammates. While Mickey was a good person at heart, he had a dark side that went far beyond his well-known alcoholism and infidelities.
In this fictional portrait, Mickey, now in heaven, realizes that he's carrying a huge weight on his shoulders, as he did throughout his life. He needs to unburden himself of all the horrible things he did and understand for himself why he did them. He wants to make amends to the people he hurt, especially those dear to him; the fans he ignored and alienated; and the public who made him into a hero. Mickey never felt he deserved the adulation, could never live up to it, and tried his damnedest to prove it to everyone. The fact that he was human made the public love him that much more. This is revealed as a man who lived in fear: fear of failure, of success, of life beyond baseball, and of commitment. His was a life filled with sex, yet devoid of deeper satisfactions.
From the alcohol-fueled good times and bad, to the emptiness when the party was finally over, 7 has it all.
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"This book really broke the myth of Mickey. Yeah everyone knows he was a womanizer and drank a lot, but wow, this book really shows it. The book is fiction, but there's a lot of truth to it. The way he wrote it was very cool, having a sportswriter interview him while at a bar in heaven!"
—
JoAnn (4 out of 5 stars)