The Quality of Courage

Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. First Bison Book printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Very good. 185 pages. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Originally published in 1964. The Bison Books edition follows the original in beginning the introduction on arabic page 11, no material has been omitted. As a man who played baseball brilliantly despite near-constant pain from a succession of injuries, Mickey Mantle knew something about courage. In "The Quality of Courage" we find Mickey's opinion on some of his widely-recognized associates including Jackie Robinson, Roger Maris, Casey Stengel, Joe DiMaggio, and Ted Williams. Here also are Mantle's opinions on some lesser known but equally meritorious candidates: war hero and pitcher Lou Brissie and umpire Bill Grieve. And then there is his opinion of those with whom he probably felt the strongest bond: players such as Roy Campanella, Don Zimmer, and Jimmy Piersall whose principal asset of physical excellence was suddenly taken from them. Much is made of the need for role models in our society, but it is perhaps as instructive to learn which qualities the role models themselves find worthy of respect and emulation. Mickey gives us his list in his characteristic straightforward style, leavened with humor and a wealth of good stories. Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 - August 13, 1995), nicknamed "The Commerce Comet" and "The Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees as a Center fielder and first baseman from 1951 through 1968. Mantle was one of the best players and sluggers, and is regarded by many as the greatest switch hitter in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974 and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.Mantle was arguably the greatest offensive threat of any center fielder in baseball history. He has the highest career OPS+ of any center fielder and he had the highest stolen base percentage in history at the time of his retirement. In addition, compared to the four other center fielders on the all-century team, he had the lowest career rate of grounding into double plays (by far) and he had the highest World Series on-base percentage and World Series slugging percentage. He also had an excellent 0.984 fielding percentage when playing center field. Mantle was noted for his ability to hit for both average and power, especially tape measure home runs. He hit 536 MLB career home runs batted 300 or more ten times, and is the career leader (tied with Jim Thome) in walk-off home runs, with a combined thirteen, twelve in the regular season and one in the postseason.Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956, leading the major leagues in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI); he later wrote a book about his best year in baseball. He was an All-Star for 16 seasons, playing in 16 of the 20 All-Star Games that were played. He was an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times and a Gold Glove winner once. Mantle appeared in 12 World Series including seven championships, and holds World Series records for the most home runs (18), RBIs (40), extra-base hits (26), runs (42), walks (43), and total bases (123).Robert Watts Creamer (July 14, 1922 - July 18, 2012) was an American sportswriter and editor. He spent most of his career at Sports Illustrated. Creamer was born on July 14, 1922 and graduated from Tuckahoe High School in 1940. He attended Fordham and Syracuse Universities but never graduated. In World War II, he fought in Germany and was wounded. Following his discharge, he was one of the first hired on the staff of Sports Illustrated in 1954. He served the magazine as a senior editor from inception to 1984, and wrote the weekly Scorecard section of the magazine. He also wrote for The New York Times. As an author, Creamer wrote what many consider the definitive biography of Babe Ruth, entitled Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, in 1974. Of Creamer's Babe, New Yorker editor and baseball writer Roger Angell wrote Ruth had "at last found the biographer he deserves in Robert Creamer." Creamer wrote seven other baseball related books, including biographies of Mickey Mantle, Casey Stengel, Ralph Houk, the sportscaster Red Barber and the umpire Jocko Conlan. He also wrote Baseball in '41: A Celebration of the "Best Baseball Season Ever" (1991) (later published in paperback as Baseball and Other Matters in 1941). In retirement, Creamer occasionally wrote retrospective articles for SI and could be seen on television commenting on historical moments in sports, many of which he had covered. Creamer was a recipient of the 2012 Henry Chadwick Award from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). He also appeared in Ken Burns' documentary Baseball and numerous other television baseball programs, including When It Was a Game.