Mickey Mantle – Post War Cards

Mickey Mantle’s 1958 Topps Contract Extension: A Hobby Treasure

March 29, 2025 by John

A true piece of hobby history! Mickey Mantle’s 1958 Topps contract extension—signed by Mantle, Frank Scott, and Sy Berger!

The scan above is from Mastro’s November 1999 Fine Sports Millenium Auction, where it sold for $4,119. Here’s the complete item description:

A truly unique document released from the Topps archives over a decade ago. This is the actual contract extension signed by the 26-year-old superstar, giving Topps the right to produce baseball cards with the Mick’s image in 1959. The standard one-page contract extension is typewritten on Topps Chewing Gum stationery and is dated Oct. 1, 1958. It basically states that Mickey Mantle and Topps agree to extend their original agreement dated April 1, 1957, and that all the same terms and conditions apply (meaning he probably got five dollars and a toaster!). Signed boldly in blue ballpoint pen by Mickey Mantle, accepted by Topps executive Sy Berger, and witnessed by Mickey’s agent, Frank Scott. Accompanied by a letter from Guernsey’s, the auctioneers who originally sold the Topps archive. An important document linking the King of Baseball Cards to his maker.

When Guernsey’s auctioned it off as lot BB462 in 1989, they described it as a “Topps extended contract of exclusive 1957 agreement, signed by Mantle on 10/1/58.” It sold for $1,300 ($1,430 with the 10% Buyers Premium).

Guernsey’s also sold the “original exclusive contract signed between Mantle and Topps, 4/1/57, binding for years 1958-60.” Reading the extension, I think the pictured contract just extended the agreement into 1961, and wasn’t about giving Topps the right to produce Mantle’s card in 1959 as Mastro wrote, but, I’m not a lawyer!

Guernsey’s sold 11 different lots of Mantle contacts and checks in their famous Topps Auction; the one I’d most like to see is the original Bowman contract for the 1951 baseball season that Mantle signed on 4/17/1951!

Happy Collecting!

10 Original Mickey Mantle Photos Used For His Early Bowman, Topps, and Wheaties Baseball Cards

March 20, 2025 by John

Vintage baseball cards are incredibly popular, but people sometimes forget that baseball card manufacturers had to find original photographs to design the cards around. Here are some original photos of Mickey Mantle that Bowman, Topps, and Wheaties used on some of his earlier baseball cards.

1951 Bowman #253 and 1953 Topps #82 Mickey Mantle Cards

1951 Bowman and 1953 Topps Mickey Mantle Original Photograph

1951 Wheaties Mickey Mantle

1952 Bowman #101 Mickey Mantle

1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle Original Photograph

1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle

1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Original Photograph

1954 Bowman #65 Mickey Mantle

1954 Bowman Mickey Mantle Original Photograph

1956 Topps #135 Mickey Mantle

1956 Topps Mickey Mantle Original Photograph – Headshot

1956 Topps Mickey Mantle Original Photograph – Action Shot

1958 Topps #487 Mickey Mantle All-Star

1958 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star Original Photograph

1958 Topps World Series Batting Foes Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron

1958 Topps World Series Batting Foes Original Photograph

1958 Topps #418 Mickey Mantle / Hank Aaron World Series Batting Foes

1960 Topps Rival All-Stars Mantle & Boyer

The photo of Mantle and Boyer was taken in 1957, three years before Topps released the popular 1960 Topps Rival All-Stars card.

1960 Topps #160 RIval All-Stars Mantle & Boyer

Happy collecting!

PS: I put this blog post together ~ three years ago and am republishing it. None of these photos are of items in my collection, and I don’t have good records of the auctions/collections I pulled them from.

Time for Yoo-Hoo: Exploring the Rare Yogi Berra Endorsed Clock

February 22, 2025 by John

I’ve written about Yoo-Hoo a few times on the blog before and am super interested in the 1959 Yoo-Hoo set and 1959 Yoo-Hoo Mickey Mantle card, but this example of a Yogi Berra Yoo-Hoo clock is a first for me!

Mastro sold this specific example in November 1999 for $1,357. They described it as being 12” x 29” and still in working condition with the original cord. However, they wrote that it had a crack on the side panel. They assumed that it was used in retail stores in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

I’ve found three other sales, and it’s tough to compare, and they may all be unique.

Lelands sold the following copy for $1,503 in October 2016. They said it worked perfectly. They added that the clock was only available commercially.

Heritage sold the next fully functional one for $1,260 in August 2019, and they included a photo of the back.

Most recently, REA sold a copy for $1,320 in the spring of 2021. They said the clock worked, but the light did not. They described the clock as a 1960s point-of-sale advertising clock and noted that it was intended to be hung at retailers as an additional advertisement for the popular drink.

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

February 14, 2025 by John

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

February 5, 2025 by John

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

February 2, 2025 by John

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

January 30, 2025January 28, 2025 by John

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.