ALL MY OCTOBERS

Given Mantle's well-known fondness for the bottle (and his widely publicized decision to seek treatment for it earlier this year), it's perhaps not surprising that his book opens and closes with a plea to kids not to abuse drugs or alcohol. It's an open question as to how many youngsters are likely to read an account of 12 World Series in the 1950s and early '60s, but their elders who remember the Yankees' glory days will enjoy Mantle's detailed descriptions of games from that era, when his team was in the Series nearly every year. Frequent celebrity coauthor Herskowitz (This 'n' That by Bette Davis, 1987, etc.) helps the slugger achieve a low-key, no-frills prose style that packs a lot of information (and some good gossip) into a fairly short book. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen)