Mickey Mantle Children: Meet Mickey Mantle Jr., David Mantle, Billy Mantle, Danny Mantle

Mickey Mantle was an American professional baseball player. He was the father of four children Mickey Mantle Jr., David Mantle, Billy Mantle and Danny Mantle

Mickey Jr. was born in 1953, David was born in 1955, Billy was born in 1957 and Danny was born in 1960.

Like Mickey, three of his sons became alcoholics and Billy developed Hodgkin’s disease, as had several previous men in Mantle’s family. Danny also battled prostate cancer.

His son, Billy, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease but died of a heart attack in 1994, aged 36. Another son, Mickey Jr., died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2000, aged 47.

Mickey Mantle’s wife Merlyn Mantle spoke to the New York Daily News shortly after Mickey Mantle’s death in 1995 about the negative impact alcohol had on her family’s life: “I was in there partying and doing exactly what Mick was doing. That was our life, and I couldn’t deny that I was a part of it. It destroys families.”

Merlyn co-wrote Mickey Mantle’s autobiography, Hero All His Life, in 1996. The book was co-written by her sons, Danny and David Mantle, as well as writer Mickey Herskowitz.