During the 1950s, they played centerfield in New York ballparks only a few miles apart. The comparisons were inevitable. From Brooklyn soda fountains to Queens street corners to Manhattan boardrooms, the argument raged: who was the greatest-Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, or Duke Snider? The trajectories of their lives were similar. They were born into the game and taught by their baseball-playing fathers at an early age. All three dreamed of baseball...