With his awe-inspiring home runs and incredible power at the plate (and seven World Series titles), Mantle solidified his status as one of the sport’s all-time greats. In this post, I’ll share 14 great Mickey Mantle baseball cards. These vintage gems, released by Topps, Nu-cards, and Laughlin during his playing years, offer a unique glimpse into Mantle’s home run-hitting prowess.
1959 Topps #461 Mantle Hits 42nd Homer for Crown
The first card on the list is from the 1959 Topps set, and it’s part of one the greatest subsets in hobby history, the Baseball Thrills. It discusses his season-long battle with Rocky Colavito for the home run crown, Mantle’s third and the first for which he had real competition.
1960 Nu-Card Baseball Hi-Lites #22 Mickey Mantle Hits Longest Homer
A bit of an oddball release, the Hi-Lites are many baseball history fans’ favorite set. This card highlights an April 17, 1953 game in which Mantle hit a ~565 ft homer against Chuck Stubbs that left Griffith Stadium.
1960 Nu-Card Baseball Hi-Lites #50 Mantle Hits Longest Homer at Stadium
Nu-Card included another Mantle blast in their Hi-Lites set, this one from a May 30, 1955 game during which Mantle nearly hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium. The card says the ball was still rising when it hit the roof and may have reached 600 feet on the fly.
1961 Nu-Card Scoops #422 Mickey Mantle Hits Longest Homer
Nu-Card released another baseball history set in 1961. This card highlighted the same homer that the 1960 Hi-Lites #22 card did, but the details were printed on the back.
1961 Nu-Card Baseball Scoops #450 Mantle Hits Longest Homer at Stadium
Again, the Nu-Card mimicked a card from the previous year. This was about the same monster home run Mantle hit at Yankee Stadium in 1955.
1961 Topps #44 American League 1960 Home Run Leaders
Topps introduced cards for statistical leaders in their 1961 set. Lucky for us, Mantle led the American League in home runs in 1960 with 40, edging out teammate Roger Maris. Ernie Banks hit 41 in the National League that year.
1961 Topps #307 1960 World Series Game #2 Mantle Slams 2 Homers
Mickey Mantle had a legendary performance in Game 2 of the 1960 World Series that Topps commemorated in a nifty subset. In this game, Mantle hit a two-run home run in the 5th inning and a three-run shot in the 7th inning. The Yankees won this game 16-3 over the Pirates, but the Pirates won the series in seven games.
1961 Topps #406 Mantle Blasts 565 ft. Home Run
Topps featured Mantle’s famous home run at Griffith Stadium off Chuck Stubbs in their 1961 set, just as Nu-Card did twice before. Topps wrote it up as a “Baseball Thrills” card on the back.
1962 Topps #53 1961 American League Home Run Leaders
Mantle didn’t lead the league in Home Runs in 1961 when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s record with 61. However, Mantle still hit an impressive 54 to finish second to his teammate.
1962 Topps #318 The Switch Hitter Connects
Looking at the front of this card, you wouldn’t be sure if it’s referring to home runs, but the back shared that Mantle was running neck and neck with Roger Maris in the home run race in 1961 when an injury sidelined him in September.
1964 Topps 331 A.L. Bombers
This card is cool because it features four formidable hitters: Maris, Cash, Mantle, and Kaline. The back highlights Maris for his record-breaking 61 home run season, Cash for being a dangerous hitter who hit /361 in 1961, Mantle as a triple crown winner in 1956, three-time MVP, and slugger of 15 Worlds Series home runs, and Kaline as a great hitter who won the AL’s batting title at just 20 years old.
1965 Topps #3 American League 1964 Home Run Leaders
Mantle was third to Harmon Killebrew and Book Powell in the 1964 American League home run race. Killebrew hit 49, Powell 39, and Mantle 35.
1965 Topps #134 Worlds Series Game #3 – Mantle’s Clutch HR
History has a way of repeating itself, and in the 1964 World Series, Mantle hit his 16th World Series home run, beating Babe Ruth’s previous record, in Game 3 of the series against St. Louis. Mantle hit the shot in the bottom of the ninth to win the game, and he reportedly called his shot to on-deck hitter Elston Howard, telling him to go to the clubhouse because he was going to hit a home run. Ultimately, however, The Yankees lost this October battle with the Cardinals four games to three.
1967 Laughlin #61 Yankee vs. Cards World Series 1964
This 1967 Laughlin card featured a description of the 1964 World Series on the back, including Mantle’s 3 HRs, bringing his career total to 18.
It’s cool that we can explore Mickey Mantle’s home run legacy through baseball cards. Despite a hobby hiccup when the 1968 Topps Game card depicted Mantle hitting a single (Mays is on the home run card), it’s clear that baseball card manufacturers duly recognized Mantle’s home run-hitting achievements. Happy collecting!