Who was better mickey mantle or Willie Mays?

Answer 1

The Say Hey kid gets the nod

As a die hard Mickey Mantle fan it would be eay for me to say "what could have been if he was healthy" but the fact is Willie Mays put up better numbers than the Mick. I have to go with Willie Mays but as a Mantle fan I leave you with some quotes from some noted ballplayers, and Mickey himself..

"If that guy were healthy, he'd hit eighty home runs." - Carl Yastrzemski

"On two legs, Mickey Mantle would have been the greatest ballplayer who ever lived." - Nellie Fox

"Sometimes I think if I had the same body and the same natural ability and someone else's brain, who knows how good a player I might have been." -Mickey Mantle

Answer 2

Mays was a better all-around player. Mantle was robbed of some of his greatness because of chronic injuries throughout his career.