...those who have never read it, check out the 1994 SI article about Mantle's 42 years of drinking linked below. He really was an SOB for a lot of years because of the drinking. In the article he says..."I was worried that fans would remember Mickey Mantle as a drunk rather than for my baseball accomplishments." Sadly that is true, more so for those who never saw him play.

That said, if I had to pick a healthy Mantle or Mays in their prime to have on my All Star team, it would be Mantle.

He signed a baseball for me in 1988 at a Gold Coast sports card show. There were a lot of sports stars there signing autographs, but the longest line by far was to have Mantle sign something.

Andy - Las Vegas

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1005099/index.htm