Quote:
Originally Posted by Snapolit1
A tad defensive, jeez. I don't need to do any research pal to know why Mickey Mantle is. I grew up in NYC. I also know Willie Mays played in NYC at some point too, and he's a flawed sometimes nasty unpleasant guy. And I almost never see anyone debating his cards on this board.
I'm not asking why his card are popular. I am asking why is he the most important face in post war collecting?
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Your question is very fair. There are a few of us who were in the hobby when Mantle wasn't the face post war collecting. He was on the same level as Willie Mays and Ted Williams. Then his cards blew up and he has just kept pulling away since. I think the fact that he was in the 52 high series (and the key card in that set), Mays was a semi-high and Williams didn't have a card probably helps too. Being the best card in Topps first set and part of the most difficult series of Topps cards ever made that card the post war card to have and spilled over to his other cards.
However, it was something that changed in the mid-eighties. Like I said in a previous post, I believe it was a group of 50s baby boomers coming into the hobby that cemented Mantle's statis. Starting collecting in the 60s, Mantle wasn't the most desirable card, it was Willie Mays, followed by Ted Williams. Mays was the best player in the game through most of the sixties. Perhaps if the hobby had exploded later (or earlier) it would be Mays or Williams, but that Yankee mystique is powerful.