Mickey Mantle Jr. Dies of Cancer at 47

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 attorney 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.”

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.