Mantle popularity
Yankeehero74
Posts: 139
Ive been reading alot about mantle and his accomplishments and he was no doubt a good ball player but I dont understand why his cards are so high priced and more popular than Aaron or Mays for example
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I think the answer was that he was a Yankee.
Well, to this kid who started paying attention to
baseball for real in 1961, Mantle was a god.
Everyone else was an also-ran. (Well, maybe
not Maris who was a flash in the pan that year.)
Part of it was the media attention that swirled
around the Yankees, and part of it was the
limited access to other players and other teams.
Where I was in North Carolina, we only had
two channels on the TV. I still remember when
the third channel (ABC affiliate) came on the
air. The whole family was in the living room
waiting for 8pm when the snow we were
watching turned into a third channel.
The Yanks were always winners back then
and so they gathered all the attention.
Will Mantle still be as collectable when all
us old timers who worshiped him as a kid
are gone?
I dunno.
~
"America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
<< <i>Well, to this kid who started paying attention to
baseball for real in 1961, Mantle was a god.
Everyone else was an also-ran.~ >>
Change the year to ~1963 (I was born in 1958) and I'm with you on that!
Doug
Liquidating my collection for the 3rd and final time. Time for others to enjoy what I have enjoyed over the last several decades. Money could be put to better use.
Even when I was collecting cards of non-Giants players, I never fixated on Mantle, probably because he was way before my time.
WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
<< <i>Ive been reading alot about mantle and his accomplishments and he was no doubt a good ball player but I dont understand why his cards are so high priced and more popular than Aaron or Mays for example >>
Was it always this way, did his cards hold more value in the 60's and 70's or did they just start exploding in value during the 80's?
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
20× All-Star (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1959², 1960, 1960², 1961, 1961², 1962, 1962², 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968)
7× World Series championships (1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1962)
3× AL MVP (1956, 1957, 1962)
1956 Triple Crown
Holds the records for most World Series home runs (18), RBIs (40), runs (42), walks (43), extra-base hits (26), and total bases (123)
Source: Wikipedia
I'm a 40-something lifetime Phillies fan; I CAN'T WAIT to own a '51 Mantle!
<< <i>When a person thinks of former iconic Yankees or historic Baseball Figures, Babe Ruth & Mickey Mantle immediately come to mind to many people.
20× All-Star (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1959², 1960, 1960², 1961, 1961², 1962, 1962², 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968)
7× World Series championships (1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1962)
3× AL MVP (1956, 1957, 1962)
1956 Triple Crown
Holds the records for most World Series home runs (18), RBIs (40), runs (42), walks (43), extra-base hits (26), and total bases (123)
Source: Wikipedia
I'm a 40-something lifetime Phillies fan; I CAN'T WAIT to own a '51 Mantle! >>
I agree his numbers are great and he was clutch but many of the old timers would put Gehrig in the list with Ruth also.
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
I've never fully understood it either, but the documentary does a great job of telling us about Mantle's hero worship. Every kid in Americal loved Mantle in the 50's...."aw, shucks" farm boy makes good for the most storied franchise in the world. Replaced Joe Dimaggio, etc
TheClockworkAngelCollection
<< <i>Because he was white. Same reason Bird cards carry a premium over Magic. Not to play the race card but typically I have noticed a premium given your typical collector is a white guy. >>
I think it's more of the Yankee mystique, switch hitter, good looking, life of the party, bunch of rings ect. Because Mays, Aaron, and Clemente prices kill Killebrew, Kaline or Mathews. Also Mantle first topps card was a great iconic photo in a rare series making it the most desired Topps card ever printed. Mantle is Topps Baseball.
Regardless, mantle was a superhero like DiMaggio Ruth and Gehrig. Were they great because they were Yankees or were the Yankees great because of them? Probably both.
All I know is I Have put a fair amount of money into mantle because of his icon status and his rise coinciding with the rise of the modern baseball card in form of early topps and bowman. Perhaps that added factor is a driver for his popularity.
Taking a different perspective, watch the billy crystal directed movie "61" which I think gives a real interesting look into mantle and mays and why their stories as players are so intriguing. When the mick has a bumb arm and hits a homer with basically one hand on the bat (a confirmed true story ) I find it easier to put some strong bids in recalling that scene.
52 and 56 topps mantle cards are cornerstones of the hobby.
IMO
He hit with more power and average than any of the players of his time.
He was the fastest runner and one of, if not the, most muscular.
Hit from both sides of the plate.
He was so good looking/charismatic that at least one of the wives of a fellow Yankee said she wouldn't turn him down. (from the book "The Last Boy")
He came from a poor family and was very humble, at least at first, before he started drinking heavily.
Played for the Yankees and was in the World Series almost every year.
He was popular with the writers and they didn't write about his off field problems.
Look up the WAR stats from 1954-1964 you could argue that he was the best player just about EVERY one of those years.
He was white.
When he got injured it was usually a severe injury and he got sympathy.
Joe
https://kennerstartinglineup.blogspot.com/
WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
Understand that Mantle came along right around the time of television. NY was the capitol of TV around that time. Exposure exposure exposure. Mantle was showcased on the Home Run Derby. If you want a treat, watch some of the old episodes. Mantle's on virtually every week and wins virtually every week. You can't help but become entranced with Mantle on that show. As someone else wrote, he seemed so humble and honest, how could you not like him?
My father was born in Brooklyn and used to talk about how Mantle was a bum. He was a die hard Dodger fan. Giant and Dodger fans hated the Yankees and they hated Mantle--because he was so good. And when the Dodgers and Giants left for the West Coast, many fans needed some team to watch. Not that they became Yankee fans, but hey, the Yankees stayed. The next generation of NY fans became Yankee fans. Yeah, the Mets came along in '62, but they were terrible. It wasn't until after Mantle was on his way out that the Mets became noticed in NY.
If there ever was a perfect storm for a baseball player to meteorically rise to god like status, it was in NY in the 50s.
Forget blocking him; find out where he lives and go punch him in the nuts. --WalterSobchak 9/12/12
Looking for Al Hrabosky and any OPC Dave Campbells (the ESPN guy)
<< <i>Was Mantle's off-the-field hedonism well known to the general public during his playing days? Did the press at that time run stories about that sort of thing? >>
Back in "the day" writers used to travel with the players on the trains and many got drunk right along with the players. They developed a much closer relationship with them. This did change to a certain extent when the players began flying from place to place. It would have been hard to write a story about a drunken Mantle if you were drinking right along side of him.
Mantle was for the most part, always available to the press and good for a quote. I am sure that was taken into consideration by the writers, who at the time didn't really write too much about the personal (sex) stuff.
Ted Williams, for example HATED most of the writers and they in turn constantly ripped his failures on the field, but didn't really get into his off field behavior. He didn't drink, but he was quite the womanizer.
I for one don't care too much about off-field behavior. If a player sleeps around that's between him and his wife, and if he's a drunk, that's his business as well, unless it affects his play and how he treats the fans.
Joe
<< <i>Because he was white. Same reason Bird cards carry a premium over Magic. Not to play the race card but typically I have noticed a premium given your typical collector is a white guy. >>
Then why do it?
That being said, I kind of thought this was sort of a silly question comming from someone whos handle name is Yankeehero74. Im assuming the 74 is for the year Mantle was elected into the Hall Of Fame. Joey, Is that you?...
They call me "Pack the Ripper"
<< <i>Even though Aaron played his entire career with one team >>
I didn't see this noted already, but Aaron played with the Milwaukee Brewers to end his career.
Obviously that has nothing to do with his popularity (or lack of in the context of this conversation) but I felt compelled to mention that.
-I.e. expansion into the suburbs, television, demand for new consumer products, etc. A lot of pent up demand post WWII started. You had this guy replacing Dimaggio and continuing the yankee legacy. Add to that being in the media capital of the world. Plus television. Plus being good looking/handsome.
I think he represented a lot of things about 50's ideals.
Staying with one team also helps. Look at Jordans legacy with the Bulls.
-I don't know if it's necessarily about being white. Being from the midwest helped. He has an all american image....similar to Joe Montana. The all american man.