Mickey Mantle's 1st Baseball Photo: 1947 Whiz Kids Owned by Teammate

[Jobu]

$old net to me.

A panoramic photo of the semi-pro 1947 Whiz Kids, featuring a 15-year-old Mickey Mantle.

This is Mantle's first baseball photo - nothing earlier is known. I have only seen one other photo of the 1947 team (see post #3 below) but that photo is slightly different so this is the only copy of this photo I have been able to locate. If the two additional guys in the photo in post 3 are there because they were late, that would make mine technically Mantle's first baseball photo by a minute or so. There are two or three different images from the next season's 1948 team, each with several copies that come up from time to time.

Mantle was signed by the Yankees off of the 1948 team when a scout came to look at teammate Bill Johnson. As a fun addition to this piece, Bill is one of the handful of players who has signed my photo.

This photo was owned by the team's bat boy, Guy Crow, who is the kid on the left end of the bench on the right. I have a nice article written about his experiences on the team (where Guy is holding recent copies of the Whiz Kids photos) and screen shots showing the photo at the Crow-family estate auction where the person I bought this from initially got it.

The photo measures 8" x 22" and the frame measures 24.5" x 11.5". I had it professionally framed with an acid-free mat and museum glass, so this piece is all set to go. The frame style fits it perfectly.

The condition is a bit rough. It was the life-long prized possession of its original owner, and it looks like he started loving it when he first acquired it as a 12-year-old kid. All part of the history and the fun - fortunately the image is still good and Mantle looks good. There is some surface/emulsion loss, some heavy creases - one or two of which might be tears (I am sorry to say that I don't recall from when I had it framed).

There is a later-in-life Mantle signature on the piece - I have enjoyed imagining Guy and Mickey reminiscing about the Whiz Kids when Guy got this signed. There are also a few hard-to-read ballpoint pen signatures from a few other players: Leroy Bennettre, Bob Meyers, Bill Johnson - the reason the Yankees scout visited the following year.

From L-R:

Back: Mickey Mantle, Dick Barret, Barney Barnet

Front:
Left Bench: Leroy Bennett, Nick Ferguson, Bill Crow, Jim Bowers, Bob Myers, Bill Johnson, Calvin Mishler, Wiley Pitts
Right Bench: Guy Crow (owner of the photo), Jim Kenega, Don Vaught, Bob Steele, "Frog" Haevens

Also included are electronic copies of the article about Guy's time playing ball with Mantle "Playing Ball with a Legend" and the estate auction screenshot I mentioned that show the photo (unfortunately they do not print catalogs).

There is a better picture on my Flickr page here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132359...7677532628734/

I am happy to answer questions or provide additional photos.