Article: The Two Mickey Mantles

Mickey Mantle died amid a sea of ink and chat about his, well, imperfections. As everyone knows by now, the mythic slugger, the all- American baseball hero, abused body and mind -- and deeply wounded his family -- as he descended into an alcoholism which lasted through most of his post-baseball life. Then, last year, he sobered up and went straight. And finally, while succumbing to liver cancer caused by his bad living, he expressed remorse and regret, urging others, "Don't be like me."

We Americans are not very good at dealing with flaws in our heroes. Until recently, our preferred habit was to ignore or suppress the flaws (John Kennedy's, for example). Now we wallow in them. Call it the ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!