1950 Mantle sig
 

I mentioned this ball earlier in the thread and was at my bank today, so decided to take and post some pics (please pardon the crappy images, phone cam and poor lighting).

This was signed during Mantle's monster 1950 season in Joplin. Not too much styling back then, and definitely no loopy M's yet.

Very nice ball. I see the 52 Topps in the background. Makes me curious what else is stashed away at the bank.:rolleyes:
Drew

Ha, I don't even know if I could list the contents anymore. There's a lifetime worth of collecting stuffed into that box. I feel pretty safe keeping the bulk of my biggies there, but do rotate 1 or 2 out at a time, and always keep a few favorites nearby to get my nightly fix. If you wanna take a peak, my avatar is my safe deposit box.

Re- my Mantle ball, I'd be curious, does anyone have an idea as to market value? I don't plan to ever ever sell it, and don't have illusions as to its being incredibly valuable, but do wonder what it might bring at auction. I feel the other players' sigs (Joplin and Enid players) should pretty definitively date it as a minor league Mantle sig, and figure those may be relatively scarce.

I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of the major auction houses ask about the ball to be featured in one of their auctions. I think it's the type of item that can show some real interest with the super high end collectors. I can't remember ever seeing a pre 1951 Mantle ball.

Wow, I guess I'd always figured more of these had survived since it was not all that long ago, but now am realizing how uncommon these pre 1951 Mantle sigs are. I received a link to a Miners team signed ball (thanks Andrew) that sold for about $21K back in 2007. Aside from that, I can't find another verifiable/dated minor league Mantle ball. There was a really nice autographed team photo that sold about a year ago in I think Legendary, and there's reference on line to an Independence signed ball, but aside from that I found nothing.

My dad's ball is a little different than the other signed balls. I looked up all the other players, and all are Enid Giants. I'll have to ask my dad about how he gathered them all... now think he maybe got the other Enid players throughout the season, then went to the Miners game specifically to see Mantle and get his autograph when he came to town... rather than getting all sigs at once. This being said, many of the Enid players only played there for a year or two, and it would seem all their sigs combined with Mantle's younger style sig would still pretty firmly date the ball, same as if signed by other Miners.

This being said, I have no idea why I'm trying to explain how to "date" this ball?!?!:confused: All I need to know is--- my dad got it from Mantle in person at an Enid Giants game in 1950, and I'm never selling it.. nuff said!!:D

Just got this today!
 

Been working on a deal with a friend for a while now.
An early Mickey signature. It was even all professionally framed when I got it.

That is a awesome piece. In case you forgot my birthday is tomorrow.:D

Lol.