Where have you gone, Brad Rasmussen? (A 1960 Post Mickey Mantle tale)
 

First off I know that this is not a pre-war topic so please forgive me. There is a question that I will have at the end for the veterans here and their pre-war experience may prove useful. I also thought that the story might get more views in this section.

Back in 1960/61, a young man named Brad Rasmussen set out to write a homemade book about baseball. He made several page entries about the history of the game. Maybe he did this for himself, or a school project. If he’s still alive, he’s probably about 75-80 years old, I’m guessing.

Anyway, as young Bradley toiled to write his story, at some point, he decided to add some colorful content. I recently acquired this piece and I’m overjoyed to show you the colorful content that he added..

A 1960 Post Cereal box back panel of Mickey Mantle. The panel is glued to notebook pages.

Not only did young Bradley save this back panel from his box of Grape Nuts cereal with the biggest star of the day, Mickey Mantle. He also saved the (probably more rare) side panel from the box that talked about Mantle’s accomplishments. Although in his haste to remove it from the box, he tore a corner, but the box remnant is still spectacular in its own right. I imagine more back panels with the full framed photo were saved than the smaller sections from the side panel of the box.

I hope that you enjoy the photos and my question for those pre-war veterans experienced in removing glue from cards, can you tell me about 1960 glue and the best way to remove this from the notebook paper?

I love stuff like this. When I was a kid, Mickey Mantle truly ruled! I have very similar homemade works; one focused on the 1932 World Series and some Cubbie fan's high hopes, and another one devoted to the 1941 Series. Thanks for posting, yours is awesome!

Thanks, James! I’m super excited.

Here’s a few other tidbits from the book. There’s more handwritten notes and diagrams of the field and other newspaper clippings, but I think you get the idea.

Very cool
 

Great item! Unfortunately the glue used in those days is usually not water soluble…. I’d be inclined to leave it as is….. you may end up wrecking it if not careful. On the other hand , if you MUST try something…. experiment with the side panel ( which probably has the same glue). But it’s best to leave it alone IMHO.

That's a cool display. I would probably leave it as is..

Thank you. I peeled some notebook paper back on the side panel and it’s a white, slightly crusty glue with paper residue. I’m wondering if a plastic scraper would remove it? I’m planning to send it to SGC.

Nix
 

Nix on that scraper!! It may be water soluble based on the appearance. Try a wet soak first if you must do something. Careful not to rub or be too aggressive or you can lose cardboard….. but you need to have it dry flat …. be careful many regrets are associated with doing what you are attempting!!!! Good luck…. many tales of woe wishing well enough was left alone!

Really neat Piece!

If you go the soaking method, I would just do a quick dip to get the notebook paper wet, and slowly deal with that. Soaking Regular-Sized cards from this time can really be a toss-up; I've had some mixed success with dunk, dry, repeat but its far from 100%.

However, Its not like its going to get a number grade and its already handcut; so hitting it with some scissors "until it looks nice enough for a slab" is also an option and significantly safer

I’ll leave the book intact, but the Mantles are going to SGC.

I love the way Brad wrote in cursive! It's a dying skill.

:(

We must have had the same cursive teacher, mine looked exactly like this as a kid.

Writing English in cursive form is a dying art.

Many years ago on Ebay I purchased some cards from a gentleman who lived in the somewhat smaller town where my mother grew up. When I received the handwritten addressed envelope I was shocked, because the cursive writing looked EXACTLY like my mom's. I contacted him and found out that, though he did not know my mother, he did remember my mother's younger sister from school.

The point of this story is...schools should still teach cursive, because if it is allowed to completely fall by the wayside, a poignant situation like I experienced would never happen.

Brian (of course I kept the envelope)

Much to the horror of generations older than me, I never learned to ride a horse/mule and managed to transport myself just fine all my life, even during visits to rural areas and hiking remote parts of Arizona.

I'm pushing 50, but I work with the public and have noticed that except for the very young and some teens, most people in their teens and 20s can read cursive enough to navigate the world even if they were never formally taught it.

Also, in my particular industry it's nice to not have as many "translation mistakes" from the 8289327497492 different styles of submitted cursive scrawling that led to data entry mistakes because "Is that a A or Q or etc?" isn't in play as much.

There's pros and cons...maybe we're at the end of the line for doctor prescription pad jokes...

I'm more than happy living in a print + typed world.

Hi, Jim. I want to thank you for taking the time and trouble to load up Brad Rasmussen's likely school project. What a profoundly beautiful 1960 Post Cereal Mickey Mantle. I can really understand the urges you've gotten to allow the artifact to remain intact. It is so poignant to that period of time. Well I remember Miss Kaplan at Fairview Elementary School teaching me how to print. A few years later, I was indeed taught to write cursive precisely as Brad did.

Jim, your desire to remove it from its paper is also very understandable. I imagine it was attached with either Elmer's Glue or Lepage's Glue, which was really a white paste. In my opinion, the 1960 Post Cereal Mantle is truly one of Mick's most underrated, undervalued, and desirable cards. It is simply breathtaking. Its monumental size compared to most other Mantle cards puts it in a class by itself, or a cornerstone from which to build a display of outstanding Mickey Mantle cards and coins.

When I wrote my book about post-war regional / food issues, NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, I devoted chapter 2 to this set, anchored by my SGC-Authenticated specimen. Like yours, it's only missing perhaps 2 - 3% of the card due to wayward cutting by a lad doing his best, with tongue half outside of his mouth. I gave this Mickey Mantle an appropos name.

THE MAJESTIC GIANT SEQUOIA MANTLE

One small correction. The cereal Post placed its Sports Stars was not Grape Nuts; rather, it was GRAPE NUTS FLAKES. A geriatrtic cereal, it helped to keep people my age on the "go-go".

One small gold nugget of information is found on the title page of Brad Rasmussen's project----the date of Nov. 14, 1960. There has been a teenzie bit of discussion as to when these gorgeous Post Sports Stars were issued. I believed they debuted shortly after the 1960 World Series. Brad's dated document confirms my belief, and goes right along with a multi-sport set---mostly baseball, with a pair of football and a pair of basketball stars.

Whatever you do, Jim, you best choose a path leading to no regrets. If you choose to have it professionally removed, make them understand the precious card must survive completely intact. As it is now, it is quaint, nostalgic, and satuated with ambience-----PLUS VERY VALUABLE.:D

Wishing you wisdom and the very best.:) --- Brian Powell

This makes some of the seemingly random stuff uploaded here so important to the community at large.

I benefited greatly from a mystery I was trying to figure out about 1930 Baguer Chocolate cards for a very long time by one of Rolando Sánchez's (Roland 49) various Cuban card posts. It was the first actually legible digital photo of a rare collector's album that I could read the name/checklist properly. It helped me make a decently strong ID of the mis-identified player in question.

Brian - thank you for your outstanding post. There are a number of dated entries in the book; 1960, 1961. Do you think that perhaps young Brad received the Mantle in let’s say January of 1960 , and kept it intact until he decided to write the book in November….meaning that he had it before the World Series?




I plan without hesitation to send it to SGC, once I remove the paper and glue. That way it will be preserved forever in that gorgeous black tuxedo.

Regarding being valuable, I was very pleasantly surprised to see some listed for sale in the 2K to 4K range, a huge jump from my small investment.

Jim

I know that with 1962 Post Cereal cards, the printing was done on paper which was then glued to the cardboard. So if you soak this, you might end up with the Mantles separating from the cereal box cardboard, and your Mantles will be thin pieces of paper.

That's what I would be worried about as well. Soaking on pre-war cards is different because the composition of the item itself is different.

Would it be worthwhile to get some quotes from a couple of reputable paper conservators? If the card is that valuable, I'd definitely explore that option. If they can't do anything with it due to type of glue, they would hopefully let you know prior. It doesn't cost anything to get a quote, and it may not be that costly relative to value.

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I’m out of town right now but when I get back home, I’m going to take another look at it. I’m thinking that the best way to handle this would be to see if I can just simply remove the notebook paper and hope that most of the glue is on the notebook paper and not the card. Then, I can address the glue remnants on the Mantle itself. Further examination may reveal a different course of action though so stay tuned!