The name Mickey Mantle is synonymous with baseball, and specifically, the New York Yankees. His achievements speak for themselves: 536 career home runs, 1,509 RBI, 3 MVP awards, and 18 career World Series home runs. From 1951 to 1968, Mantle patrolled center field for the Yankees, the only Major League team he ever played for. A Mickey Mantle rookie card is one of the most valuable baseball cards ever produced. Although he was adored by the Yankee faithful and respected by all, Mantle struggled through much of his career, and his life, with injuries and alcoholism.

Growing up in Oklahoma, Mantle was a multi-sport athlete in high school. He sustained a leg injury while playing football which became infected, and only the newly developed drug penicillin saved his leg from amputation. But this injury, and several others, dogged Mantle throughout his career. He sustained a shoulder injury during the 1957 World Series, which became his main problem.

When Mantle's father died of Hodgkin's disease at the age of 39, Mickey slumped into depression and turned to alcohol. This would haunt him and later other members of his family as well. Mantle's wife and all four sons had similar problems with alcohol, and it affected Mickey's marriage. He continued to battle his drinking problem until finally, near the end of his life, he sought treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic. But the damage done by then was too much. He died of liver cancer in 1995 at the age of 63.