[brian1961]

Sorry JollyElm, here comes another mention of Mickey Mantle!

The last year of my youth where I seriously attempted to complete a Topps set was 1969. With Mick retiring in the spring, I was thrilled there was going to be "one more for the road". I bought as many nickel packs as I could of that series in what would be the last year for the five-cent pack.

I wound up pulling two Mickey Mantles, but both of them were so off-center side to side that in my mind each was only a few microns away from being mis-cut.

Soon, time ran out for that series, and I had to be content with at least having Mantle. That's such a swell pose of Mick, with the overcast background symbolizing to me the end of the line of Mickey Mantle's playing career. I should have tried writing to The Trading Card Company in Farmington Hills, Michigan that fall and see if they had any well-centered copies of Mick. They came through for me on a lot of other occasions, though.

COULD OF, SHOULD OF, but I unwisely assumed all '69 Topps Mickey Mantles were severely off-center. So untrue, but that's what we got in Arlington Heights, Illinois where I lived back then. Also, that was a typical way for a 15-year old to reason a situation out.

Oh well. In 1969, Lou Brock was another one that I also recall being "impossible" to find decently centered. No news on that well-known toughie.

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukkah. Cheers--Brian Powell