Mickey Mantle

From Grand Prize to Auction Block: The Fall 1992 Topps Magazine Centerfold Signed by Mantle, Mays, and Snider

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The Fall 1992 Issue of Topps Magazine featured a great competition. The grand prize was an autographed copy of the 9th Topps Magazine’s centerfold illustration featuring Mays, Mantle, and Snider.

This copy was sold by Collect Auctions for just $264 in July 2021.

I presume this was the Grand Prize for the “In The Ball Park” Game Time competition pictured below.

I guess a collector could have removed the centerfold from the magazine and had the players sign it, but the Beckett LOA and the auction description don’t specify whether this was the case.

This Topps Magazine centerfold features Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider and Willie Mays, with signatures from each. Each signed in fiber-tip marker over their images, with each signature authenticated by BAS with a full LOA.

Collect Auctions Description

Happy Collecting!

The PSA 8 Graded 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Sotheby’s Auctioned In 2005

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In June 2005, Sotheby’s offered this gorgeous PSA 8 graded 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle in their Important Sports Memorabilia and Cards catalog. The expected sales price was $40-50k! It’s now a million-dollar card after changing hands at least two more times!

I’m unsure what Sotheby’s sold the card for, or if it changed hands again, but in November 2014, it showed up in SCP’s Fall Premier Auction, where it sold for $268k.

Then, in May 2017, Memory Lane had the same card in their Spring Holy Grail Rarities Auction, where it sold for $462k.

I’m unsure if that buyer sold it since, but the PSA Card page for the cert shows that it was re-slabbed. Behold, over a million dollars in its plastic tomb!

It would be pretty cool if someone would trace the lineage of all the high-grade (PSA and SGC 8+) 1952 Mickey Mantle cards. It’s sort of just happened that I’ve started such a task with the T206 Wagner cards:

Happy Collecting!

Rarity and Intrigue: The 1954 Bowman Metal Printers Sheet with Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams

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Here’s an item you don’t see every day: a 1954 Bowman baseball metal printers sheet with Mickey Mantle and, next to him, one of the set’s rarities, Ted Williams! But guess what? It’s got a twin, but I don’t know where either is anymore!

The unique sheet was lot 152 in the 1995 National Sports Collectors Convention Auction, presented by Bill Mastro as “The Best of Yesterday.”

They included a slightly larger photo of the Mantle and Williams cards, too.

Here’s the lots complete description:

1954 BOWMAN BASEBALL METAL PRINTERS SHEET WITH #66 TED WILLIAMS
26 inches by 36 inches metal printers sheet with 32 cards on it (8 across, 4 down) in the upper left corner is Mickey Mantle and immediately to his right is the rarest of all Bowman baseball cards -#66 Ted Williams, many years ago two of these exact sheets turned up, one of which now resides in the Halper collection, the offered sheet has numerous holes and spotting and although it lacks visual appeal it more than makes up for its condition defects with its extreme rarity, framed properly would surely add to its attractiveness, very good condition. MINIMUM BID: 900.00

It’s interesting that Bowman would have made two of these sheets; maybe they weren’t identical. Also, if you weren’t aware, according to BaseballCardPedia, “In 1954, Topps signed an exclusive contract with Ted Williams, which forced Bowman to pull card #66 of Williams from its set. Bowman replaced #66 with a card of Jimmy Piersall who was also featured on card #210.”

Interestingly, I haven’t been able to track down any “regular” 32-card 1954 Bowman baseball uncut sheets, just this absolutely incredible proof sheet from portland_uncut_sheets on Instagram.

But I did find that Heritage sold a 4-card uncut panel featuring Mantle, Wiliams, Mueller, and Gilliam in the same layout as the metal sheet. It sold for $13,145 in May 2016.

Robert Edward Auctions then re-sold the same sheet for just $6k in the fall of 2018. They highlighted that it was cut down from a larger 32-card production sheet

It doesn’t look like a salesman sample; those had a diamond/square sticker on the back, and the 4-card panel shows no evidence of sticker removal. Of course, it could have been intended as a sample but never used as one. Here’s an example of the back of a 1954 Bowman Salesemen’s Sample:

Happy collecting! And check out more uncut sheets on the archive!

What You Missed in a 1984 Ad: A $23K T206 Wagner and a Mickey Mantle Autograph for $24.99

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A few months ago, I shared this 1984 ad from Richard Gelman that offered a T206 Honus Wagner card for $23k and .25 cent 1981 MSA Mini Discs on the same page, but another collector highlighted another great buy: the $24.99 life of Mickey Mantle set probably had the autograph in it!

Here’s a zoomed-in scan of “The Life of Mickey Mantle” section highlighting the 1982 set that Authentic Sports Autographs (ASA) released.

The Standard Catalog wrote that:

This 72-card set chronicles the life of Mickey Mantle in contemporary photos, many from Mantle’s own collection and many picturing him with such stars of the era as Maris, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Mays, etc. A total of 20,000 sets was produced; 5,000 of them feature a genuine Mantle autograph on card #1 and 15,000 sets have no autograph. Back of cards from the autographed sets are printed in blue while the unautographed sets have backs printed in red. Issue price was $25 for the autographed set, $13 for the unsigned version.

TCDB has more set info, including that blue back cards with serial numbers 1-10 had every card in the set autographed and auctioned off with bids due by May 1, 1982. They also wrote that the blue back sets were originally $19.99, but sets ordered after May 31, 1982, were $24.99, while the red back sets were originally $9.99, increasing to $12.99.

A few more notes shared by TCDB:

  • 14 cards in the set were printed in full color, and 58 are black, blue, and white.
  • There was one card for each of Mickey’s seasons.
  • There was one card for each of Mickey’s World Series.
  • The set was written and researched by Fred McMane of UPI.
  • Photos from Mickey and Merlyn Mantle’s personal collection.
  • Sets began shipping in May 1982.

That info comes from the following advertisement; please let me know if you know its source.

Update 30 Jan 2025: Andrew Aronstein told me that his dad distributed this set through his advertising vehicle, The Baseball Advertiser which is where the ad came from.

Here’s an example of a signed card #1 that PWCC sold for $435 in August 2020, which is around what they’re selling on eBay these days.

Here’s what the unsigned card #1s look like:

I also found an uncut proof sheet (see The Uncut Sheet Archive for more), signed by Mantle, that REA sold for $690 in the summer of 2024.

The sets came boxed; REA sold this one, including the signed card #1, for $360 in October 2021.

Happy collecting!

Incredible Auction History – A Lot For Mickey Mantle’s 1967 Topps Stand-Ups Regular and Proof Cards

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The 1967 Topps Stand-Ups are one of the scarcest Topps test issues, though Topps likely intended them as a 1968 release. Anyway, I ran across a December 2004 auction that featured both the Mickey Mantle proof and die-cut versions!

First, here’s what The Standard Catalog has to say about the set:

Never actually issued, no more than a handful of each of these rare test issues have made their way into the hobby market. Designed so that the color photo of the player’s head could be popped out of the black background and placed into a punch-out base to create a stand-up display, examples of these 3-1/8” x 5-1/4” cards can be found either on thick stock, die-cut around the portrait and with a die-cut stand, or as thin-stock proofs without the die-cutting. Blank-backed, there are 24 cards in the set, numbered on the front at bottom left.

In 2010, they priced the thick stock, die-cut set at $75k, and the thin stock, proof set at $60k. As for the dating, SABR has a great article explaining the likely intended release of 1968. Mantle is the set’s key player, followed by Clemente, Mays, and Aaron.

I’ve only found one other sale of a Mantle Stand-Up card when, in April 2005, Memory Lane Inc. sold the following GAI-8.5 graded die-cut example for just under $10k.

For SA, PSA has a single example of each Mantle variation in their Pop Report.

And since I run The Unopened Archive, here’s the lone wrapper example: Lelands sold it for $3k in November 2008.

TCDB includes this photo of what’s likely the only display box; the same one, I believe is shared in the article Standing Tall on The Topps Archives who shared a few more unopened items from the set in a piece called Yaz Sir!

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

Cardboard Dream Teams: Baseball Card Teams to Make Any Sorter Proud

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Kudos to Sports Card Magazine and its readers in late 1993 for the “All Most Valuable Rookie Card Team,” along with the Best Name, Not as Famous, and All Ears Teams.

Before I share the article, I have to question why the author acknowledges that the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle isn’t his official rookie card but still includes it!! Okay, it’s a great card, whatever, but then at least give me the Worst Haircuts of All-Time Team!

The All-Most Valuable Rookie Card Team

The All-Best Name Team

The All-Not As Famous As The Other Guy With My Name Team

The I’m All Ears Team

Who among you has all the cards on one of these teams?

Top 10 World Series Cards

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T.S. O’Connell wrote an excellent article for Sports Cards Magazines’ April 1995 issue about World Series Cards; these were his Top 10. What do you think about the list?

Here’s the rest of the article, and be sure to check out The Complete Topps’ World Series Card Guide, which was published a few years earlier in the Fall of 1990.