In 1985, he said, he wrestled a trained bear. It was declawed and muzzled. ''I tried to jump on its back,'' Mr. Foley recalled, ''and it stood up and threw me off him. That was the end of the match.''

Recently Mr. Foley sat in his kitchen for 20 minutes staring at his lawn sprinkler, trying to muster enough courage to turn it off because he knew that the movement would hurt. The World Wrestling Federation lists these injuries: at least 8 concussions, a broken nose, a broken jaw, a separated right shoulder, a fractured left shoulder, 27 stitches in his left arm, at least 6 incidents of broken ribs and so forth. Even the list is numbing. Still, Mr. Foley is sweet and good-natured. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland, and despite his modesty, intelligent. He also enjoys laughing at himself. For the interview he wore a polo shirt with a Winnie the Pooh logo. ''I thought you would be nicer to me,'' he said with a shy smile.

Wrestling and his books have made Mr. Foley wealthy. His house has five bedrooms and a special Christmas Room that has holiday decorations year-round. In another room the family's several guinea pigs roam relatively freely, penned in by books and boxes.

''Have a Nice Day'' covers his childhood in Setauket, N.Y., on Long Island. His father, John, was a high school athletic director and his mother, Beverly, a gym teacher. Mr. Foley himself was a poor natural athlete. The book describes how girls ''dissed him.'' In a pivotal incident in college, Mick walked home a girl named Kathy, and kissed her. ''Up to that point, it was certainly the most romantic moment in my life,'' he writes. '' 'Good night, Kathy,' I said softly.''

''She responded with the words that buried my heart but launched my career,'' he writes. '' 'Good night . . . Frank.' ''

His disappointment somehow left him with a desire to disgust as many people as he could. And thus a life in wrestling was born. Mr. Foley married his true love, Colette, a former model. They have three children: Dewey, 9, Noelle, 7, and little Mick, 4 months.

''Foley is Good'' describes his terrible bout with the Rock in January 1999, a match that upset his wife and children. Ever the good company man, Mr. Foley wanted to promote the Rock, the World Wrestling Federation's biggest star. The Rock's image was too nice, Mr. Foley thought. ''I wanted the fans to see a side of the Rock they could truly despise,'' Mr. Foley writes.