SO THAT'S WHY MICKEY MANTLE AND JOE DiMAGGIO WEREN'T CLOSE... IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW

Most sports fans probably know that the Mickey Mantle legend has always been just a little sanitized.

He came clean about the alcoholism about a year and half before his death in 1995. Scuttlebutt that he was something of a sex addict has proven harder to document, since that's still more of a taboo than being a boozer.

It's out there enough, though., thanks to Jim Bouton's tales of "beaver shooting" in Ball Four and a scene in 61* where Mantle, played by Barry Pepper, listens to someone drone on about Babe Ruth's home-run hitting during a pregame ceremony and mutters, "I bet I got laid more than he did." Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

This hasn't deterred Peter Golenbock, who as today's Toronto Star details, is due to come out with the "inventive memoir" 7: The Mickey Mantle Novel in March. Golenbock's "reality fiction" apparently depicts Mantle hooking up with Marilyn Monroe while she was married to Joe DiMaggio. The rest apparently writes itself.

"It is written in the first person and, according to Golenbock, is based on stories told by Mantle's former teammates with the New York Yankees in the 1950s and '60s, including Jim Bouton, Whitey Ford, Hank Bauer and Joe Pepitone."

(snip)

"Two unnamed 'media insiders' who have read galleys of the book described it as 'porn,' 'exploitive' and 'vile,' according to Publishers Weekly."

Really, though, what else is an author to do? Golenbock and his editors, literary agents, et al., know the world doesn't need another book polishing the knob of Mantle's legend. Imaginging that two 1950s American icons might have hooked up -- wooo-eeeee!

Mick's Novel Liaison (Toronto Star)