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Posted By: Brian Weisner

While Mantle may have been a drunk, his liver problems were a result of hepatitis and had nothing to do with his alcohol abuse. I spent quite a bit of time with Mantle in the mid to late 80's during his signing heyday, and he was always very nice to me, which is more than I can say for Mays or Dimaggio who were consistently rude. One reason Mantle may have not been very friendly while signing was his Zone like perfection and speed with which he worked. He was able to personalize, date, and specialize items without breaking the speed or consistency of his signiture. While Mantle wasn't the greatest baseball player ever, he is without a doubt the best and fastest show signer of all time, and you can read every letter of his name. later brian