Mickey Mantle
 

I'm a Red Sox guy, always have been, always will be. That said, I've never been able or willing (to date) to pick up a Mantle piece. I know that there a ton of Mantle enthusiests out there...let's see some Mantle cards, type I photos or other rare items that might be of interest to the Net54 community / viewers. Make the case to those of us who like our cards rare that a Mantle piece should be in our collections.

Ethan

There is a huge thread of items on the memorabilia cards and on the card side. If those don't pursuade you, nothing will :)

the 51 & 52 say enough for what they are.
the scarce issues- the 53 Yakamatsu, the 61 Dice Game, and the 63 Plaque/mask card. are for die hard collectors but some would love to have.
Theres a whole devoted thread to the Mick in the post-war section.

Here is a link to that thread. http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=222292

Mantle
 

Cool thread. Thanks for sharing it. What do Mantle experts consider to be his rarest cards / collectibles?

The first ever Mascot Dog Food card was found at the end of last year. Sold for a much smaller price than I expected.

Didn't I buy a Mantle ball from you a couple of years ago?

I think you did come to think of it...I got it in a group of cards. Not a bad looking ball if I remember correctly. Did you get it graded?

His rarest cards that were actually issued (I.e., not the test issued cards that only Al really owns) are the following:
1. Mascot Dog Food - 2 known
2. Yamakatsu - 2 known
3. 1959 Venezuelan - cream back - 2 known
4. Pittsburgh Exhibits - think there are less than 5 known of each variation but not certain
5. Yoo Hoo Card (I think it was a test issue but doubt everyone agrees)
6: Holiday Inn Postcard - three panel variety - 2-3 known
7. 1968 Topps Game - Square Corned (likely sheet cut) - 1 known
8. Others that are probably more common than those but still incredibly difficult to find and likely still less than 5-10 examples: Dad's Cookies; Exhibit Postcard Backs (both variations); Briggs Meats; 1954 Stahl Meyer (no clue why this one is so difficult); Topps Plak (not produced by Topps in my opinion)

Then there are the test issues which are insane: Topps Dice Game; 1966 and 1967 Topps Disks; Topps Standup thing Al posts that's beyond cool; 1966 Topps Punch Board (whatever year the tough one is); 1967 Topps Punch outs (both variations)

All pop report numbers are based on what I've seen and not likely accurate as I'm forgetful and don't have the money for these cards and am pretty sure there are more out there that aren't graded and aren't publicly know.

Ps. His cards are awesome because he spans almost the entirety of the 1950s and all of the 1960s, are two of the better decades of baseball cards. Plus, he was in so many of the oddball sets during this time that there is something for almost every budget from the period, from ~$10.00 on up.

Mascot Dog Food - 2 known?

You sure you're not counting the Berra as a Mantle? I didn't see a second one turn up.

If you go back to the thread discussing the find, there are the Berra and Mantle that were just recently discovered and Larry S. mentions knowing someone with a Mantle and another player. The auction company seemed satisfied with this report and listed the new Mantle as the first to the market rather than only one known. Like I said, no guarantees but my pop report services are free so you kind of get what you get.

Forgot to add, there is only one known example of the Americans Oil portrait card as well.

Imaginary Figment
 

Looking for something rarer than integrity in politics...in '51 if you could have sidled into the Brooklyn HQ and talked one of Shorins into letting you have a plausible True Topps Mantle rookie card. Wonder what it would go for these days?:rolleyes:

Chris, is this correct? I just picked up one graded by SGC as authentic in a recent Heritage auction.

As a contribution to the thread, here's a news wire photo that I find interesting. It was taken during the only game that Mantle played 2nd base in his career.

Nope, two known now :). I'm assuming there was a full sheet that was cut down. Not sure how many were in a sheet. I was hoping there was just one known :)

And, like his 52 Topps card there are two versions of the 1951 Yankee Team card

Ah, but the dated card would have looked kind of bogus with "1950" on an image of the rookie Mick, no?:rolleyes:

Pretty cool picture - all sorts of things wrong with this:

1) Mantle playing 2nd base

2) HOF pitcher Bob Lemon nearly getting picked off on the basepaths (though of course pitchers batted then, and Lemon was one of the best batting pitchers ever, high on home run list for pitchers, pinch-hitting a number of times etc.)

Any one know what year this was? Tried a bit to find it, wasn't 1951

Mike, the game was on July 24, 1954.