The official Mickey Mantle Pickup Thread. All Mick, all the time!

[AustinMike]

A couple of off-beat Mantle items I hadn't seen before.

The top two are the front and back of a cut from a National Sports Council mailer (approximately 5-7/16" by 7-5/8", thick paper or thin cardboard). I've seen a lot of it Mantle NSC items, but not this before. Has anyone seen, or know of, the complete mailer?

The bottom two are the front and back of a possible premium from Brookfield Clothes (approximately 2-7/16" by 2-13/16", cardboard similar to a baseball card). I have found a couple of ads for Brookfield Clothes from 1956 that use the picture on the premium (different cropping than what's on the premium). The card does have an old, musty smell. Even though it looks old and smells old, I'm still not 100% sure about its authenticity. The type on the back has me perplexed. Was Mantle involved with Brookfield in 1954? Why would the date be put on the back? Why would it just say "Brookfield" and not "Brookfield Clothes?" Has anyone seen one of these before?

[bswhiten]

Never seen either one of those Mike. Like the photo and "You can do it, too" phrase in the first one. The second one looks a bit suspect to me. Artificially aged?

[h2oya311]

need some help with this Mantle photo/card. Can you guys pinpoint the date? Do you agree with RMY Auctions on the date? Is it a team issue?

https://rmyauctions.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=43516

[AustinMike]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

need some help with this Mantle photo/card. Can you guys pinpoint the date? Do you agree with RMY Auctions on the date? Is it a team issue?

https://rmyauctions.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=43516

Derek, the photograph may have been taken in 1951, but I'm not sure about that (I can't see his left sleeve to see if it has the 50th anniversary patch for the American League on it). However, that doesn't mean the photograph was printed in 1951. That 8" by 10" photograph was part of two team issued photo sets that I have. I think it was included in the 1956 and 1960 photo sets. It could have been issued in others as well. It's a nice photograph even if it wasn't printed in 1951.

[h2oya311]

Originally Posted by AustinMike

Derek, the photograph may have been taken in 1951, but I'm not sure about that (I can't see his left sleeve to see if it has the 50th anniversary patch for the American League on it). However, that doesn't mean the photograph was printed in 1951. That 8" by 10" photograph was part of two team issued photo sets that I have. I think it was included in the 1956 and 1960 photo sets. It could have been issued in others as well. It's a nice photograph even if it wasn't printed in 1951.

Thanks Mike - I was leaning towards a later Team Issue as well, but would welcome other responses if anyone else has seen this one. I love the image, but I’m skeptical of the dating of the photo and whether it was issued that year!

[AustinMike]

Originally Posted by bswhiten

Never seen either one of those Mike. Like the photo and "You can do it, too" phrase in the first one. The second one looks a bit suspect to me. Artificially aged?

Yes, it definitely has that artificially aged look, especially with that stain on the back. After researching and seeing that Mick was part of the Brookfield Clothes advertisement campaign in 1956, I decided to gamble on it. I was pleasantly surprised when I got it and smelled it (that's a sad/disgusting image - sniffing mail ). It definitely has an old, musty smell to it. But even though I know Mick did help hawk Brookfield Clothes around that time frame and the card does smell old, I can't get past the artificially aged look it has. I was hoping that someone else might have seen one before or seen a period advertisement where it was offered as a premium. Until then, I'm leaning towards not a true period piece ... but still hopeful.

[Bestdj777]

I’ve taken a hiatus from baseball cards to raise my kids and focus on my art collection (if anyone ever has any questions or wants me to weigh in I’m accessible by PM), but it’s nice to log back in and see so many awesome regionals. Mike, I love the mailer.

The second card is strange. Seeing it, my gut reaction is that there is about a 95% chance it is fake—I saw a handful of these types of items pop up a few months ago with the same typing on the back and the same artificial looking aging. What One thing that doesn’t make sense though is that this is the same image Brookfield used, so if they are fake someone must have done good research. But then why would they mess up the year?