[MetsBaseball1973]

"The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the end of America's childhood." Read that book. Fantastic read.

There will never be another man so blessed with the looks, the talent, the name, and the serendipity to arrive at the perfect time on the perfect stage.

It all came together for him, the way we mortal men dream life will turn and unfold.

Then his sad later days, his, "Don't be like me," moment, only served to endear him to the public in a totally new and different way. The towering legend was suddenly all too human.

Of course, there are also those amazing stats. And yet they always give way to the imagination-tickling wonder of what he could have done with all that God given talent, without injury or a daily hangover.

And the cherry on top? His first Topps card is a stunning blue piece of eye candy, with a killer portrait, in the high series, with the aura of the ocean dump behind it. Even his Bowman true rookie is gorgeous, and notorious and challenging for collectors.

Ah, The Mick. He has it all!