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Mickey Charles Mantle
New York Yankees
First Base
Born: October 20, 1931, Spavinaw, OK
Signed: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1949 season
Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1951-1968
World Series Appearances: New York Yankees 1951-1953, 1955-1958, 1960-1964
Died: August 13, 1995, Dallas, TX (age 63)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1974
Writing about the extremely well-known Hall of Famers in this set is way more difficult and daunting than writing about the fringe players who enjoyed a cup of coffee in the majors. What can I write here about Mickey Mantle that isn't already well known and better written?
Died: August 13, 1995, Dallas, TX (age 63)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1974
Writing about the extremely well-known Hall of Famers in this set is way more difficult and daunting than writing about the fringe players who enjoyed a cup of coffee in the majors. What can I write here about Mickey Mantle that isn't already well known and better written?
With that caveat out of the way . . . Mickey Mantle, the popular center fielder for the Yankees during their 1950s and early 1960s dynasty, was a three-time A.L. MVP winner, a 20-time All-Star, a triple crown winner in 1956 and a member of 7 World Champion Yankees teams. He's regarded as one of the best switch hitters in baseball history and was a first ballot Hall of Famer in 1974. Mantle led the league in home runs four times and in runs scored five times. He finished his career with a .298 batting average, 2,415 hits, 536 home runs (currently 18th all-time) and 1,509 RBIs. His #7 was retired by the Yankees upon his retirement in 1969, he ranked 17th on the 1998 Sporting News list of Baseball's 100 Greatest Players, and he was voted as one of the three outfielders on Major League Baseball's All-Century Team.
Not surprisingly, Mantle was my Dad's favorite non-Phillies baseball player.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1956 Topps blog.
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Building the Set / Card #32
December 3, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Card Plus - Cooper City, FL)
At the outset of The Philly Show, more formally known as the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, we needed just four cards to complete our 1965 Topps set. We arrived at the show in a steady rain right after doors opened at 9am, secured our autograph tickets and started walking the floor prior to the arrival of most of the crowd. My goal for the show was simple: Find those last four cards needed to complete our 1965 Topps set. I wrote a full summary of the show in this post over at The Phillies Room.
I found the first three (Orlando Cepedea, Gordy Coleman, Tony Perez rookie card) of the final four after carefully scouring dealer tables throughout the expansive layout. Having spent a few hours at this point walking the show floor, I had added notes in my phone for the location of five ungraded 1965 Topps Mickey Mantles I had come across so far, none of which had checked off the two qualities I was looking for - relative affordability and excellent or better condition.
When I came across a Mantle card from Sports Card Plus, I knew we had completed our 1965 Topps set. There was some negotiation, and a little hesitation, but I eventually agreed to the price the dealer finally offered. And then . . . I went a step further. In the case next to the stack of 1965 Topps superstar cards was a stack of 1969 Topps superstar cards with the 1969 Topps Mantle card, one of the key cards of that set, on top of the stack. I asked to see that card as well, studied it for a minute or two, and offered the dealer a bundled price for the two Mantle cards. My offer was accepted after a few beats, Venmo information was exchanged, and the cards were ours. Our 1965 Topps set, begun almost three years prior, was complete, and I had also added one of the most expensive cards needed for our relatively new 1969 Topps set build.
The Card / Yankees Team Set / Accuracy Index +3
The back of this card contains Mantle's complete big league career statistics, and reflects his retirement announcement from earlier in the year. Like all Mantle Topps flagship cards, this card has seen a fair share of reprints over the years beginning with the 1996 Topps Commemorative Mickey Mantle Reprints inset set. Mantle would appear in nine more Topps flagship sets in the coming years, but this is his final Topps flagship card issued contemporaneously with his playing career.
This is one of 23 cards available in the set's fifth series available as either "yellow letter" or "white letter" variations, with the yellow letter variations being more prevalent. This is the more prevalent yellow letter variation with Mantle's name printed in yellow.
Accuracy Index: Topps gets a +3 for this Mantle card on a technicality. Five points are awarded since Mantle is obviously shown on the correct team, but then two points are subtracted since he didn't play for the Yankees in 1969.
Inserts: Mantle is included as one of the 48 decals in the Topps Decals insert set.
1969 Season
Mantle played in his final big league game on September 28, 1968, starting at first base for the Yankees against the Red Sox in Fenway Park. Facing Boston starter Jim Lonborg (#109), he popped up to shortstop Rico Petrocelli (#215) in the top of the first inning, and was replaced in the bottom of the inning at first by Andy Kosco (#139). On March 1, 1969, he officially announced his retirement and the Yankees hosted Mickey Mantle Day on June 8th. More than 70,000 fans attended the ceremony that saw Mantle's #7 permanently retired. At the time, the Yankees had only previously retired three other numbers - #4 for Lou Gehrig in 1939, #3 for Babe Ruth in 1948 and #5 for Joe DiMaggio in 1952.
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First Mainstream Card: 1951 Bowman #253
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (25): 1952-1953, 1956-1969, 1975, 1996, 2006-2012
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2022 Topps Update Salute to the Mick #STM-9
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 5,875 in the Beckett online database as of 1/15/23.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR
You have him listed as a manager for both the Padres and Giants. I'm guessing that this is Roger Craig's managerial timeline. I don't believe that Mantle was ever a manager. PS - keep up the good work, I enjoy reading these postings and I learn something all the time.
ReplyDeleteYep, Roger Craig's information is on the template I copy and paste for each of these posts and his managerial line escaped deletion. And thank you - I'm learning new stuff too!
ReplyDelete