Agree with the OP on those earlier Mantles. He could have his own good bad and ugly post.
The good
I never understood why this card doesn't get more love. It is his rookie card and an example of good artwork. Along with the 1953 Bowman and 1965 Topps, his best looking cards in my opinion.
The bad
1953 Topps is just bad artwork. Most of the cards in the set are poor representations of the subjects and amatuerish in my opinion.
The ugly
The 1952 Topps is just plain ugly. Giving Mantle a yellow bat makes no sense to me. Also another weak Topps design.