Read the text and think of one word which best fits each gap.
Mickey Mantle was one of (76) ……………….…….. greatest baseball players of all times. He played for the New York Yankees in their years of glory. From the time Mantle began to (77) ……………….…….. professionally in 1951 to his last year in 1968, baseball was the most popular (78) ……………….…….. in the United States. For many people, Mantle symbolized the hope, prosperity, and confidence of America at that time. Mantle was a fast and powerful (79) ……………….…….. who could bat both right-handed (80) ……………….…….. left-handed. He won game after game, one World Series championship (81) ……………….…….. another, for his team. He was a wonderful athlete, (82) ……………….…….. this alone cannot explain America’s fascination with him. Perhaps it was because he was a handsome, red-haired country boy, the son of a poor miner from Oklahoma. His career, from the lead mines of the West to the heights of success and fame, was a fairy-tale version of the American dream. Or perhaps it was because America always loves a “natural”: a person who wins without seeming to try, (83) ……………….…….. talent appears to come from an inner grace. That was Mickey Mantle. But (84) ……………….…….. many celebrities, Mickey Mantle had a private life full of problems. He played without complaint despite constant pain (85) ……………….…….. injuries. He lived to fulfil his father’s dreams and drank to forget his father’s early death. Mickey Mantle died of cancer at the age of 63.
Mickey Mantle was one of (76)
……………….…….. greatest baseball players of all times
