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Yankees legend Mickey Mantle battled alcoholism for years and ended up needing a liver transplant late in his life. The star was open about his struggle with addiction and he once even wrote a letter addressed to children everywhere, telling them not to drink alcohol or do drugs. That letter is now being auctioned off by Lelands.

The bidding started at $500 last month and the current highest bid is up to $4,076. In total, there have been 23 bids already placed on the letter and the auction runs until Friday night.

"I want to dedicate this book to all my friends. Old, new & especially young friends. Please don't do alcohol & drugs. I never did drugs but alcohol hurt my career terribly," Mantle wrote in the letter. "So to everyone out there especially young people, little leaguers etc. 'Don't end up over the hill before you even start to climb it.' Makes us all proud of you. Don't do drugs & alcohol."

According to TMZ, Lelands isn't exactly sure who the letter was written for for what the "book" in question is, but it was authenticated prior to hitting the auction block.

Mantle also wrote in the letter that he believed Willie Mays was a better baseball player than him, in part because the Giants legend took his health more seriously.

"I think you have to look at final statistics and Willie was far ahead at the end." he wrote. "Guys who took good care of themselves like Willie [Mays], Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Joe [DiMaggio], etc., were the ones at the top of the final stats."

During his career, Mantle was a 20-time All-Star, won three American League MVP Awards, and helped the Yankees win seven World Series titles. The Yankees legend ended up with a career .298 batting average and slugging 536 home runs in total. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974