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Mickey Mantle Jr., athlete, 47

Wednesday December 20 5:50 PM ET

Mickey Mantle Jr. Dies of Cancer 

DALLAS (AP) - Mickey Mantle Jr. died of cancer Wednesday, five years after
the disease killed his father. He was 47.

Mantle Jr. had been in and out of R.H. Dedman Memorial Hospital since
about August, said Dorothy Weber, a New York lawyer who represents the
family in trademark and licensing.

Mantle Jr. was a switch-hitting center fielder like his Hall of Fame
father but never made it to the majors. He spent several years in the
minors for the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers.

Like his father and brothers, he also became an alcoholic. The entire
family shared their battle with the addiction in the book, ``A Hero All
His Life.''

In recent years, he worked in Dallas with brothers Danny and David at the
Mickey Mantle Foundation, which promotes organ donation.

Mantle Jr. was the oldest of the Hall of Famer's four sons and the second
to be stricken with cancer. The youngest Mantle son, Billy, had Hodgkin's
disease before he died of a heart attack in 1994 at 36.

Mickey Mantle died of liver cancer in 1995 at 63 after receiving a liver
transplant. The New York Yankee great's father, grandfather and uncle all
died of Hodgkin's disease when they were in their early 40s.

In 1998, Mantle Jr. had a malignant tumor removed from his neck and had 36
radiation treatments. The tumor was discovered when he was having trouble
swallowing.

He is survived by his brothers, his daughter, Mallory, and his mother,
Merlyn, all of Dallas.

A private service for Mantle Jr. has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday in
the chapel of Sparkman-Hllcrest funeral home. He will be interred in the
family's mausoleum at the adjoining cemetery alongside his father and
brother, Billy. 



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