Mickey Mantle Basic Set #6

cheeks

Finally after all thse years I got a NM 7 Topps 52 Mickey Mantle. Am now 6th in Registry. Started following Mantle in 1953 when I was in grade school but was never able to get his card in a Topps gum package. In 1956 I was spending the summer on my Grandmothers farm in Fillmore Utah and could hardly wait for the morning paper to see how he and the Duke were doing. Mickey won the triple crown that year and the Duke won the NL HR title. The Mick was a true natural-great speed (3.1 seconds to first base & still the record) and a switch hitter of heart stopping power. His incredible long home runs led the Yankees to invent the tape measure home run. He still has the longest official measured home run of 565 feet and experts calculated that two of his home runs that were a foot short of clearing the Yankee stadium center field bleacher would have traveled over 700 feet. All this power and he was 5'11 and 185 lbs. He had his flaws and admitted he was a drunk, but for generations of men, he's the man, has been the man, and was the last great player on the last great team in the last great country. I say that in his prime he was the fastest and most powerful slugger of all time. Any opinions on this are welcome, and I know some of you will challenge this statement.

Beardown

Congratulations on the card! Now lets see some scans of em'!
~Steve

Volver

Yes...nice work indeed...any scans for the innocent bystanders??

kadokakid

Cheeks nice card, couldn't agree with you more. I remember when Nolan Ryan I believe was the first player to make a million dollars a year salary, remembering my dad saying that "they couldn't pay Mickey Mantle", meaning if Ryan was worth a million, not enough money to pay Mantle.

My dad felt the same way as you.

Peace

Doug

cravetopps

as a kid growing up on Long Island, and this is before the Mets, Mantle was, and still is my hero. if the game wasn't televised, I would listen to it on the radio. I can't put into words how I felt about him. And going to kankee stadium and just seeing him come out of the dugout is an experience I will never forget and I will never feel again. I wish every kid could experience something like this in their youth but unfortunately, those kinds of heroes are few and far between these days. I think of Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Joe Montana......they are definitely out there, but none seem to have quite the aura of the Mick. Maybe Jordan comes closest. Imagine what it must have been like being a kid when Ruth and Gehrig were playing? Maybe that was part of it - sports writers who were probably contemporaries of Ruth and Gehrig, trying to revive that feeling of awe they had when they were kids.

cheeks

Mark, aura is the perfect word to describe the Mick, just went to my 47th HS reunion and all my old buddies still talk about him. He raised a little bit too much hell, but those were the 50's and sixties and being in New York I would have been right there with him. I have the Sports Illustrated Magazine from the week he died and the articles describe how Mickey became an all American Icon. I never saw him play except on TV. You are fortunate to have been there.

usmc1986

He was a hero for many in a time when america needed a hero. He was and still is the greatest player that ever lived, imho. Yes, he had his flaws, but I don't think of that when I think of the Mick. I was at work the day he passed away. I heard it announced on the radio and the news actually made this former Marine break down. God bless you Mickey.........

cheeks

I'm with you marine. I don't know why so many of us were mesmerized by him, but I guess thats why we have heros.

cheeks

<< <i>Congratulations on the card! Now lets see some scans of em'!
~Steve >>





I'm embarassed to tell you guys I do not know how to attach pictures. I know the instructions are available and I have a new Sony digital camera, just have to try it and hope for the best.

cheeks

<< <i>Cheeks nice card, couldn't agree with you more. I remember when Nolan Ryan I believe was the first player to make a million dollars a year salary, remembering my dad saying that "they couldn't pay Mickey Mantle", meaning if Ryan was worth a million, not enough money to pay Mantle.

My dad felt the same way as you.

Peace

Doug >>



I remember Doug when he tried to get the Yankees to pay him $100M and it was a struggle. Can you imagine what he would have made in this era.

jamesgotpoorman

priceless......................................

Davalillo

Jim,

That is a world class set you have and with an upgrade to the 51 Bowman Mantle will be out of this world. Although you knocked me to 7th, I am proud to be behind such a great set as yours.

Good luck finding the 51 Bowman Mantle upgrade.

Jim

cheeks

<< <i>Jim,

That is a world class set you have and with an upgrade to the 51 Bowman Mantle will be out of this world. Although you knocked me to 7th, I am proud to be behind such a great set as yours.

Good luck finding the 51 Bowman Mantle upgrade.

Jim >>



No Jim, it is my honor to be in your company, all I have is Mantle's, you have several word class sets and have a great reputation in this hobby. Thanks for your kind words.
Jim P.S. The word should be many incredible world class sets, I just pulled them up and was absolutely stunned. How did you do it??

Davalillo

Jim,

How do I do it?

1)Lots of space
2)An understanding wife
3)A job that pays me enough to pursue a couple of hundred sets
4)Start young and build
5)Have a love for the hobby
6)Have lots of people in the hobby who are willing to help you with your sets.

This last one is critical. Of the last 25 sets I have finished in psa 8 or better, a fellow collector provided me with the last card or cards.

As you know, those last couple of cards can be brutally tough. I think I have 30 or so sets that I am down to 7 cards or less and half of these one or two cards. Some do not exist in psa 8.

See you in Hanover I hope.

Jim