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Originally Posted by brian1961

To be sure, great story, Ted. Also to be sure about forgiving the chap who thought Mickey's Topps card was probably a "common" player. Now, having said that, I imagine that his Bowman counterpart would have initially been viewed as a common.

When Mantle went to spring training in 1952, his future was a question mark, since his terrible leg injury suffered during the second game of the 1951 World Series had not healed as yet. Moreover, weighing heavily on Mickey was the reality that his beloved father was dying. Extremely rough time for Mick. Shortly after the funeral, Casey put Mickey in center field, as he originally planned. The Bowman of Mantle is numbered 101, which off the top of my head would be a series two card, appearing in Bowman packs in May to early June.

--- Brian Powell

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hi Brian

You are correct....the 1952 BOWMAN MANTLE was issued in BOWMAN's 2nd series cards which were available circa late Spring/early Summer of 1952.

When the 1952 Baseball season started at the Stadium, there was a fair number of fans who would often boo Mickey, especially when he Struck Out or mis-played a ball in the Outfield.
To be fair to Mickey, a lot of this booing was also due to Joe DiMaggio's absence from the game. But, by the Summer of 1952, Mickey's excellent performance at bat and in the field had
turned around those boos into cheers. Indeed, Mickey was a very important factor in the Yankees winning the AL pennant that season. The Sporting News and the New York newspapers
really got on the "Mantle bandwagon".

I recall quite well when the 1952 TOPPS series of Hi #'s became available..mid-September 1952. And, by then Sports fans, and especially BB card collectors, were all very excited about acquiring anything associated with Mickey. Therefore, timing here has a lot to do with his TOPPS BB card being "hot", while his BOWMAN BB card not getting much respect.


TED Z
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Info I didn't know about.

Thanks for sharing guys!