[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by campyfan39

May 11, 1986. My Dad was coaching my team and we had a game that night. Before the game he and Mom told me to come into their room that they had a special gift for my 13th bday. It was this 56' Mick. Dad bought it from a Kit Young catalogue for $35 (which was more than was normally spent on birthdays and more than Dad had ever spent on a card for himself at that point).

Great story. Mine is the '56 Mick too. I traded for an offgrade one as a kid when I was 13 or 14, and what I had to give up at the time almost totally cleaned out my vintage collection. A couple of years ago I upgraded to a nicer copy of the card, (and yes I got rid of my original offgrade one - I can understand why many people wouldn't, but doing so allowed me to pickup another grail card...) However - I never would have gotten rid of my original without securing an upgrade. There is just something magical about Mantle and the design of the '56 Topps cards. Pure nostalgia. My favorite card of all-time.