Trent as i said in my post i said Mantle was a great player, i also said maris helped mantle i didnt say he made mantle. Also it is a proven fact the maris helped mantle bcuz of that era up until maris came to the yankees Matle use to catch a lot of slack bcuz people were upset believing he was going to break ruths records, So as much as praise from fans and press he also recieved a lot of negativity, UNTIL MARIS CAME ALONG and all the negativity started falling on Maris, which made Mantle shine even to the negative fans and press, one reason in particular maris couldn't handle all the publicity. Also if you follow his career he was still a decent player up until his career ended with the cardinals also remember he got hurt badly quite a few times after the 61 season. So his numbers did decline.

But also remember during his career with the yankees and the cardinals they told him dont play for the game or average people want home runs. So he always tried to swing for the fences.

There was even one time when he played for the cardinals his finger was hurting him, and the doctor told him it was nothing bcuz they wanted him to go back out there and try to hit some hme runs later he found out that is was broken the whole time and they didnt say anything to him bcuz they wanted him to swing.