Mickey Mantle's: Behind the Scenes in America's Most Famous Sports Bar

Anyone looking for insight into the late Mickey Mantle will be disappointed in this memoir by a founder and former owner of the sports bar that bears the ballplayer's name. Telling few stories about Mantle himself, Liederman instead focuses on his own life story, the Central Park South restaurant's opening and its day-to-day anecdotes. He shares details on no less than four sexual encounters inside the restaurant, including a public fornication between a waitress and a prep cook at the employee Christmas party and a ménage à trois among wait staff in the locker room. Near the end of the book, Liederman writes that after a failed attempt at opening a second Mantle's location in upstate New York, he was forced to file for personal bankruptcy and lost his ownership share. He ultimately was arrested on charges of breaking and entering and grand larceny after he returned for his personal items, spending a night in jail before the charges were dropped. Unfortunately, the chapters often lapse structurally into a bullet-style format more commonly found in business reports, and he regurgitates one exhausted cliché after another. (Apr.)