Quote:
Originally Posted by tedzan
Here is the very Mantle card I acquired in the Fall of 1952. I paid a nickel at our neighborhood candy store, and opened
up a Topps waxpack expecting to get Mickey. I will never forget that day, as I very carefully shuffled thru the cards and
Mickey was in the middle of the stack.
Regular season was nearly ended and by then most baseball fans had become quite excited over this 20 year old rookie.
He had a great season with 171 Hits....23 HR's....scored 94 Runs....87 RBI's....and, batted .311.......what a coincidence,
Mickey's BB card number, how did TOPPS know that ? 
Whoever here said that Mickey's card was probably a "common TOPPS card" in the Fall of 1952 when the High # series
cards were available is forgiven.
TED Z
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To be sure, great story, Ted. Also to be sure about forgiving the chap who thought Mickey's Topps card was probably a "common" player. Now, having said that, I imagine that his Bowman counterpart would have initially been viewed as a common.
When Mantle went to spring training in 1952, his future was a question mark, since his terrible leg injury suffered during the second game of the 1951 World Series had not healed as yet. Moreover, weighing heavily on Mickey was the reality that his beloved father was dying. Extremely rough time for Mick. Shortly after the funeral, Casey put Mickey in center field, as he originally planned. The Bowman of Mantle is numbered 101, which off the top of my head would be a series two card, appearing in Bowman packs in May to early June.
--- Brian Powell