I will stick in my two cents.  Although having never seen any of them play.  I have only reviewed the stats and read books (granted I never read a detailed biography on Mays, I will make sure I read this one). 

To me, it is difficult to evaluate Mantle and compare him effectively to Mays.  Injuries.  Mays has him beat overall because he played longer.  But, even if you evaluate their first 13 years (after which Mantle trails off) it is still difficult to evaluate because Mickey was hurt alot.  Having said that, injuries are a legitimate way of holding you back (Mattingly for example).  So, for a career, you must say that Mays is the better ballplayer.  In my own personal evaluation of the greatest ballplayers of all time – Mays is in the top ten.  I’m not sure how exactly it shakes out (one day I will settle on a definite order).  But suffice it to say, Mays is probably in the top five…. hmmmmm…..  

Anyway, I rank Mantle probably lower, definitely in the top 15 all time which is not too shabby. 

That’s not the end of the discussion however.  When I look at individual seasons I also conclude the following.  Mantle had a higher ceiling than Mays.  Put another way, if Mantle played at his highest capability, I believe that would be greater than Mays.  Mantle’s high ceiling year of 1956 is in all likelihood, a better individual season than anything Mays put up.  Mantle had that high of an ability.  It was almost Ruthian, if you will.  The problem is, of course, Mays had more “great” years than Mantle, but I’m not sure that Mays ever approached what I would characterize a Ruthian like season. 

Back to the list.  Hmmm…. let’s say no pitchers.  Ruth, Cobb, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Williams, Mays, Aaron, Wagner, Foxx, Hornsby and it gets difficult after that.