All My Octobers: My Memories of 12 World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball
by Mickey Mantle
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mickey MantleEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-06-01
ISBN: 0061131725
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Book Reviews of All My Octobers: My Memories of 12 World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball
Book Review: The Dozen Fall Clasics of One of Baseball's Most Dynamic Players
Summary: 4 Stars
Mickey Mantle appeared in a total of 12 World Series in his first 14 years (1951-64). Mantle himself was the biggest reason: He was the AL's dominant player during this time. In "All My Octobers," Mantle gives his personal account of each of the 12, of which the Yankees won 7. However, the chapters usually devote more pages to the regular season and other ruminations.
Mickey set the Series record with 18 home runs, but he hit only .257, with a whopping 54 strikeouts. One of his best Series was his 1st full one, 1952, in which he got 10 hits and banged homers in Yank victories over Brooklyn in Games 6 and 7. Mickey relates what a thrill it was to be congratulated by Jackie Robinson after the Series, a gesture he himself "wasn't then capable of making" since he was a bad loser. Though Mantle was a great competitor, he did not begrudge four of the five National League teams that beat his Yanks. Plus, he writes of the 1958 Series, "... honesty requires that I add, we won because Milwaukee wouldn't. They had it wrapped up but couldn't get the bundle home." Of the 1960 loss to the Pirates, however, he states, "[t]he better team lost, the only time I truly felt that way. It wasn't even close." Mickey hit .400 with 3 homers and 11 RBIs, but the Pirates won even though the Yanks outscored them 55-27.
Sometimes the home run simply holds sway. In 1956, Mickey's .250 average included three homers and a double. One homer provided the margin in Don Larsen's perfect game and complemented "as good a catch as I ever made" on Gil Hodges' deep drive. In 1953, Mickey had "a strange series," hitting .208 with 8 strikeouts but also 7 RBIs. Many baseball fans are aware of Mickey's grand slam in Game 5, but it is interesting to hear him describe his game-winning homer in Game 2. Mickey was a great change-up hitter batting right-handed, so when Preacher Roe threw him one "[i]t caught me slightly off stride, and I swung flat-footed, but I managed to hold the bat just long enough to get my body into it."
As in the regular season, injuries were a constant theme. In Mickey's very 1st series, in the 2d game, he backed up Joe DiMaggio on Willie Mays' fly ball. "[T]he spikes on my right shoe caught the rubber cover of a sprinkler head. There was a sound like a tire blowing out and my right knee collapsed...." This injury to his right knee had a long-term deleterious effect on his running and left-handed swinging. Fast forward to the 1964 World Series, Mantle's last. The writers called Mickey "the majestic invalid." He hit .333 with 3 HRs and 8 RBIs and runs scored, but laments his fielding lapses due to his right knee injury. That doesn't take away from Mickey's great moment: as he describes, he called his shot with his walk-off homer against Barney Schultz in Game 3. Mickey also discusses missing Series games in 1955, 1957, and 1961 due to injuries; he mentions two occasions on which he got a long hit (1961 and 1964 Series) that should have been an easy double but was not due to his leg injuries.
Some background is needed, but I would have liked this book to have focused more on the Series themselves. I also note some mistakes, although mostly detectable only by those into detail. One big one is made by Mantle himself, who states that in the 1952 World Series, he faked a throw to first after Jackie Robinson had rounded the bag and then threw him out at second. But play-by-play records show it never occurred; perhaps Mantle, whose only assist in the Fall Classic was on a relay in the 1956 Series, was thinking of an exhibition game? One obvious error concerns Game 1 of the 1963 Series: "[The Dodgers] led, 5-0, and that would be the final score." Three paragraphs later, it is stated the Yanks' Tom Tresh hit a two-run homer (as was true).
During his final years, Mantle acknowledged his alcohol problems and how they affected his baseball career and family life. He provides a brief and to-the-point epilogue giving the background and relating it to his playing days. Sadly, this is one of the last things he ever wrote because he died the next year (1995). The final sentence is compelling advice to young athletes: "Don't end up over the hill before you even start to climb it."
Summary of All My Octobers: My Memories of 12 World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball
To everyone who truly loves the game, Mickey Mantle epitomizes the golden age of baseball, when the mighty New York Yankees indisputably ruled, appearing in an unprecedented twelve World Series in fourteen years! In this intimate memoir, Mantle recounts the joys and trials of his rise from rural Oklahoma youngster to the pinnacle of baseball greatness.
In All My Octobers, the one and only Mick relives every one of his World Series appearances -- from the 1951 battle when he played alongside an aging Joe DiMaggio to his three-home-run performance in the 1964 showdown. In addition to the on-field heroics, Mantle talks candidly about the injuries, the alcohol, the parties and celebrations, and the terrible toll they can take on a young athlete's life. But most of all, it is a remembrance of October greatness, of postseason pyrotechnics . . . and a loving appreciation of a team of titans that achieved something marvelous and unequaled to this day.
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