What’s the obsession with Mickey Mantle?

[Directly]

The year was 1964, the first year I began to collect baseball cards. Being a paper boy after receiving my large salary of $3.00 I would race to the local drug store to spend all my hard earned money --loved the Gum, and the little metal coins storing them for safe keeping inside a brown grocery bag. Around this time upon visiting my older cousin I advised my passion--Donnie advised he had a bag full and trotted up into the attic to retrieve those hundred or so little pieces of cardboard gold--upon opening the sack he began to sort them--when he came upon a double he would hand it to me, saying you can have it---WOW--never before had I seen those type of baseball cards, turned out they were all mint 1957 Topps. After completing his task at hand, I mentioned, you have two Mantles--can I have one, you have two? NO he
replied in a rather stern youthful voice--No way that's Mickey Mantle---

So the first Mantle I pulled was the the same year, 1964 so to protect my rare find, with a nickel I purchase a holder from a vending machine and laminated my prize!!

[vthobby]

Originally Posted by Directly

The year was 1964, the first year I began to collect baseball cards. Being a paper boy after receiving my large salary of $3.00 I would race to the local drug store to spend all my hard earned money --loved the Gum, and the little metal coins storing them for safe keeping inside a brown grocery bag. Around this time upon visiting my older cousin I advised my passion--Donnie advised he had a bag full and trotted up into the attic to retrieve those hundred or so little pieces of cardboard gold--upon opening the sack he began to sort them--when he came upon a double he would hand it to me, saying you can have it---WOW--never before had I seen those type of baseball cards, turned out they were all mint 1957 Topps. After completing his task at hand, I mentioned, you have two Mantles--can I have one, you have two? NO he
replied in a rather stern youthful voice--No way that's Mickey Mantle---

So the first Mantle I pulled was the the same year, 1964 so to protect my rare find, with a nickel I purchase a holder from a vending machine and laminated my prize!!

Thanks for sharing. My 1st packs were 1976. 7 for $1.05. I had a reverse trade story, my "friend" offered me a stack of 30 cards for just 1 of my cards. I'm like who the heck is Henry Aaron? I was young and not too into the game but that start got me into it so bad that it is a large part of my life today. Live, breathe, sleep collectibles! Thanks again for sharing!

Peace, Mike

PS Quick related trivia....what HOF player started in the same city that he retired in BUT played there for 2 separate teams? .............Henry "Hank" Aaron, Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers! Love that trivia question!

[egri]

Originally Posted by vtgmsc

PS Quick related trivia....what HOF player started in the same city that he retired in BUT played there for 2 separate teams? .............Henry "Hank" Aaron, Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers! Love that trivia question!

Also Willie Mays (NY Giants and Mets)

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by egri

Also Willie Mays (NY Giants and Mets)

Also Babe Ruth (1914 Boston Red sox, 1935 Boston Braves

[rats60]

Originally Posted by mr2686

Also Babe Ruth (1914 Boston Red sox, 1935 Boston Braves

Ron Santo Chicago Cubs and White Sox.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Hornsby -- St. Louis Cardinals and Browns.

[oldjudge]

Mickey Mantle was a great ballplayer. I think his position as face of the modern hobby comes from a few factors beyond his on field play. First, as a member of the Yankees, he was in the World Series virtually every year between 1950 and 1964, the years when baby boomers grew up. At that time, there was very little national baseball coverage. You saw your local team, the all star game, and the World Series. Mickey got to be seen all around the country, not just his local market(albeit the biggest in the country and the media center). The color barrier in baseball had just been broken. Many teams early in Mantle’s career had not yet been integrated. In fact, the Yankees did not bring up Elston Howard until 1955. I think Mantle’s popularity at that time over Mays reflected racial views more so than talent. Also, Mantle got a pass from the press on his off field activities. This pass lasted throughout most of his life, decades after he stopped playing. He was an alcoholic and a philanderer, yet the press portrayed him as an All American boy.
Why have his cards become the face of the post war hobby? I think it is boomer memories and a concerted effort, initially by dealers and now by collectors with vested interests, to hype his cards. What mystifies me the most is how, years after Mantle and DiMaggio have retired, that suddenly Mantle is viewed as the better of the two. When I was growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, DiMaggio was always thought of as the superior player. Even in 1999, when the fans chose the all century team, DiMaggio received more votes than Mantle. They were comparable hitters, but DiMaggio was a much superior fielder.