Mysterious Foreign Mickey Mantle Card: ID Help / Legitimate?
 

Hi, all. I'm not a baseball collector, so I apologize if this is a flagrantly stupid thread... But, I know someone who has this card, and they have no clue what it is.

It appears to be a Mickey Mantle card with Japanese writing, but with a blank back. No manufacturer info or stats.

https://i.ibb.co/y4FrhY2/MM1.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/CKYtWNt/MM2.jpg

From my brief research, it looks to be a hastily scaled down image of the 1955 New York Yankees Tour of Japan program.

https://i.ibb.co/kmnrQDX/1955-New-Yo...r-of-Japan.png

Albeit cheaper/less fancy, it appears to match design-wise with a few cards I've been able to find listed on ebay that are titled "1950 Japanese Baseball Karuta Menko Card."

https://i.ibb.co/Rb83v5m/JBB1.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/mTjMcdM/JBB2.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Fsm71vS/JBB3.jpg

Does anyone have any clue what the Mantle is? Was it a giveaway at the 1955 exhibition games? A promo item somewhere in Japan? A rare food/gum/candy issue in Japan?

Or, is it just a weird oddball fake?

I feel like anything Mantle should be documented, and I can't find anything about this... which leads me to think fake. But, why fake an irrelevant, non-desirable and unsearchable Mantle, when you could fake a high dollar one?

If it is real, is there even a value comp out there?

Any information would be appreciated. My curiosity is killing me.

Is it on card stock or thin paper? It looks like something that may have been cut out of a program for the game or something. Interesting!

My first guess is a recently made fantasy piece, but I have certainly been wrong on my guesses before.

i think your right on mark with the scaled down version japan one.
Looks like the cropped down version to me as well.
It would likely seem a copied paper version printed on a printer.

Doesn’t look real to me but I’m still convinced the Mascot Dog cards, despite significant evidence to the contrary, are fantasy pieces….