The Quality of Courage: Heroes in and out of Baseball
by Mickey Mantle, Robert W. Creamer

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Book Reviews of The Quality of Courage: Heroes in and out of Baseball

Book Review: Read it when I was 10, cost 50 cents, still have a copy
Summary: 5 Stars

The book brings out examples of what Mickey Mantle said he respected more than any other thing: courage. In fact, just days before his death, brought on by alcohol abuse, he said to the nation: "If you want a role model here's one - don't be like me, play like me, but don't be like me." Sports and media personnel, including sports people who knew Mantle, expressed how surprised and amazed they were by the couragious example he showed when faced with death. It was no surprise to me, it was right out of this book. In fact, on the first page he quotes Shakespeare: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."

Mantle gives examples of everyday acts of courage that you may never have thought of. It causes the reader to look at life in a more pro-active way. If you were to read only one book on courage, this should be it.

Summary of The Quality of Courage: Heroes in and out of Baseball

Reading more like conversational monologues than a written text--Creamer's marvelous achievement is in letting Mick's voice come through as familiar rather than some chiseled artifice. Mantle's observations on such ballplayers as Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Roger Maris, Roy Campanella, Ted Williams, and Jimmy Piersall are really quite charming in the way they reveal his homespun attitudes, opinions, and the qualities he respected. From these pages, it's sadly apparent that Mantle had an easier time drawing strength and inspiration from others than he did carrying the weight of inspiring a generation on his own broad, brawny back. --Jeff Silverman

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