I’ve come across an interesting research project that I thought I’d present to the group here in an effort to gain some consensus on an issue that seems to keep popping up every few months: the issue of the scorecard from Mickey Mantle’s first regular-season game.
Mantle’s first game was on Tuesday, April 17 at Yankee Stadium, against the Red Sox. Mantle started in right field and hit third in the order behind Phil Rizzuto. In the sixth inning, he got his first major league hit, drove in Jackie Jensen for his first RBI, and eventually came around to score the Yankees’ 5h run in the 5-0 win.
Back in August of 2017, LOTG sold an official scorecard from what we believed to be that game, in outstanding condition (
see it here). Within a few days of the auction going live, we were contacted by a knowledgeable collector – and member of Net54 – who I really respect, who said that the scorecard we were selling was actually not from Mantle’s first game. He shared an example of a scorecard offered by another auction house, which sold for big bucks, that had a completely different lineup printed on the scorecard. The scorecard had numerous names crossed out in pencil, and the actual lineup from the April 17 game filled in.
After I was contacted, I did some more research into the game, and felt confident that I was correct in my assertion that the scorecard was the correct one. Ultimately, however, the scorecard sold for a very low number in comparison with other, different scorecards claiming to be the ones from Mantle's debut. I took some solace in the fact that the piece in our auction was won by an employee at another auction house that was very knowledgeable about Yankees-related items, and so I kept an eye out, looking forward to reading what more research they would come up with to prove that the scorecard was the correct one.
Sadly, when they subsequently sold the piece, they simply cut-and-pasted my original description.
I since have received another example of that scorecard on consignment, and decided to do some further research into the game, to see if I could definitively prove which scorecard was the correct one. In the process, I discovered a
third scorecard that was sold by a major auction, claiming to be from the April 17 game! That’s right – auction houses have actually sold three different scorecards, each containing different lineups – claiming to be from Mantle’s first regular-season game.
The run-up to the 1951 season for the Yankees was a tumultuous one. The rookie outfielder Mickey Mantle certainly received a ton of press, but it was unknown whether or not he’d even be on the team to start the season – he needed to register for selective service. There were other issues with the Yankee lineup as well: shortsop Phil Rizzuto was injured, and it was unknown whether or not he’d be able to play on Opening Day. Two additional players were fighting to make the roster that spring: infielders Gil McDougald and Gene Markland.
The Yankees’ roster began to take shape in the week prior to Opening Day. On April 12, doctors pronounced Phil Rizzuto would be ready to play on Opening Day. On April 13, Mantle was pronounced physically unqualified to serve in the Army, clearing the way for him to make the roster. And Markland and McDougald both continued on and made the team - the team rested both Rizzuto and Jerry Coleman in an exhibition against Brooklyn on the 15th with McDougald starting at second base and Markland at short. The following day, the Yankees were rained out of a game in Washington, setting up the home opener on the 17th in New York against Boston.
The Opening Day lineups for the Yankees and Red Sox were both identical to the ones printed in this scorecard, the one that was consigned to LOTG. You can see the boxscore
here, courtesy of Baseball Reference.
Here's the lineup portion of the scorecard that was consigned to us:
You’ll note the presence of both Gene Markland and Gil McDougald on the roster. The pitchers’ names have been written in pencil (something that could obviously have been done at any point over the past 60+ years). The game has not been scored.
A second program that has been sold at auction as having come from Mantle’s first game has a very similar Yankee lineup, with the exception of Hank Bauer, who is printed in the lineup as the leadoff hitter and left fielder. In the actual game, Jackie Jensen occupied that slot. In the program that has been sold at auction, Bauer’s name is crossed off and Jensen’s name written in its place, in pencil. The starting pitchers’ names are also penciled in, to match the lineups for that game.
The third program that has been sold at auction as being the one from Mantle’s first game – and the one that has sold for the most money – is one that has a printed lineup that had no resemblance to the actual Opening Day lineup whatsoever. It featured Gene Woodling hittling leadoff and playing left, followed by Gil McDougald at second, Yogi hitting third and catching, DiMaggio hitting cleanup in centerfield, Johnny Mize hitting fifth and playing first base, Cliff Mapes hitting sixth and playing right, Billy Johnson hitting eighth and playing third base, and Gene Markland hitting ninth and playing short. In every case I can find of this scorecard being offered at auction, the printed lineups have been crossed out and the actual starter penciled into the right lineup (one actually spells Mickey Mantle’s name as “Mantel”).
Gene Markland is the key here. Anyone who has researched this scorecard knows that Markland never played a game for the Yankees – the Yankees’ third scheduled game, the one on April 19, was rained out. Markland was demoted to Kansas City on that date, the Yankees went on to Washington to play the Senators on the 20th without Markland.
It is my belief that the program that has sold multiple times at auction as being from Mantle’s first game – the one with Markland in the starting lineup at shortstop (a position that the newspapers reported on April 12 that Phil Rizzuto would be playing on Opening Day), with all the crossed-out names – was actually produced for that nonexistent third game. The starting Yankee lineup printed in that scorecard didn’t look anything like the lineup that Casey Stengel sent out of the field for either the first or second game. However, we have no idea what Casey had planned for Game 3, because Game 3 was never played.
It is also my belief that the program that has been sold at auction as being from Mantle’s first game that features Hank Bauer hitting leadoff and playing left field is actually the one from the Yankees’ second game, April 18. In that actual game, Gene Woodling led off and played left.
Lastly, it’s my belief that the program we have offered in the past as the actual Opening Day program - and the one we have currently on consignment - is the correct one. The lineups in this scorecard match, without any crossouts. My experience has been that the official scorecards for a given game generally have the lineups from that game correctly printed on the scorecard page - or, at least they're very close (in the case of a late scratch, etc). In addition, I’ve reviewed this with several people who are collectors of vintage programs and scorecards, and they agree.
What do you think?
-Al