Mays, Mantle, Snider: A Celebration
Price: $1,250.00
Hard Cover. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987. First Edition. About Fine / Dust Jacket Included.
First edition, first printing. Signed in blue pen by Mays, Mantle, and Snider on the half-title page. Publisher's blue cloth-backed gray boards, with spine lettered in silver foil, and blue endpapers; in its original gray dust jacket designed by Dick Adelson, with photos of Mays, Mantle, and Snider to front panel, lettered in blue, black, and red. About fine book, with a light mark to front board, and slight bump to upper corner of front board; fine unclipped dust jacket. Overall, a wonderful copy. This book is a celebration of three of the greatest center fielders to ever play the game of baseball - Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Duke Snider. In the first chapter of the book, Honig writes, "So the center fielder who can cover all four points of the outfield compass with dispatch and also possesses a bat that sweeps with the might of a wagon tongue is one of the game's crescendo figures, a rarity among the finest athletes a nation can produce. A star of stars. They appear infrequently, leave behind indelible markings. And yet once, sending the laws of probability into extremes, there were three such performers playing for three different teams in the same city at the same time..." Interestingly, the classic 1981 song "Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey and The Duke)" by Terry Cashman was inspired by a photo of Mantle, Mays, and Snider on the field together. Willie Mays started playing professional baseball at 16 in the Negro Leagues and was soon drafted by the New York Giants. He went on to play 21 seasons with the Giants, winning a World Series with the team in 1954. His over-the-shoulder catch in that World Series is one of the most iconic moments in sports history. A 24x All-Star and a 12x Gold Glove award winner, Mays was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979 and selected for the prestigious Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Mickey Mantle played his entire eighteen-year career with the New York Yankees, alongside other legendary players like Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, and Whitey Ford. Plagued by injuries throughout much of his career, Mantle nevertheless became an all-time great, winning three MVP awards (1956, 1957, 1962) and the Triple Crown in 1956. He also helped power the Yankees to seven World Series titles. Mantle was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1974 and selected for the All-Century Team in 1999. Duke Snider spent the majority of his 17-year MLB career representing the LA/Brooklyn Dodgers. He earned eight All-Star selections, won two World Series titles (1955, 1959), and was NL MVP runner up in 1955. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980. Item #DHMMS002
