Overall, that's a great start to a world class set. Several would have to be upgraded, of course, including the key card---Mickey.
Tonight, or early Sunday tomorrow morning, Memory Lane concludes its SPRING CLASSIC RARITIES AUCTION. Germane to our discussion is lot #83, a fine PSA Near Mint 7 of the Home Run Derby Mickey Mantle. Pop 3, with only one higher. At well over a dozen bids, by early Saturday afternoon, it was over 18K. At the time the preliminary auction concluded, it stood at $19,217. "Extended bidding has now begun. Studying the bid history, I noticed with the last several bids, three were placed in unity, signifying three eager "well-fixed" chaps have top-all bids concurrently working. By the time it reached "Extended bidding", that had stopped. It will be interesting. I've seen the example on Memory Lane's site, and it's a honey.
World class specimen.
Assuming the winning bidder is a Mickey Mantle specialist, if he should also have a taste for tough postwar regionals, I would definitely recommend the near set to mate with the Mick.
As for the history behind Home Run Derby, I devoted a chapter to them in my now-released book on those beautiful, pesky postwar regional / food issues, NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. Though I sadly do not own a specimen, that did not deter me from writing about the Home Run Derby set. It HAD to be included.
I will never apologize for plugging my own book. If you devoted 8 years of your life to writing, editing, and securing legal copyright to a book, you would do the very same. Our hobby does not have many outlets for news and communication. However, Net54baseball is one of them, and I should think collectors with a taste and an interest in those fascinating cards and coins would most assuredly want to be made aware of a new hobby book on the subject. Had someone else written one, I sure would want to know how to get a copy.
A couple weeks ago, I sold a book to a chap who was really only interested in my seventh chapter. He's a most devoted fanatic of the mid-60s Coca-Cola baseball and football bottle caps. ALWAYS thirsty for anything on the COKE caps and premiums promotion, years ago he pleaded with me to call him when it was ready. I called, and he was more than ready.
'Nuf said. ---Brian Powell