1952 Topps Ad

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Stonepony

Interesting Mantle is a highlight on the ad after just the 51 season.

That was my first thought as well. But this ad seems to be for the high series, (right everybody?) which means it came out later in the year. So maybe as the '52 season progressed, he was becoming more and more well known in the baseball world?

[moeson]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

That was my first thought as well. But this ad seems to be for the high series, (right everybody?) which means it came out later in the year. So maybe as the '52 season progressed, he was becoming more and more well known in the baseball world?

Absolutely correct. By Spring 1953, the first Mantle biography, written by Ben Epstein, was already published after only two seasons.

[con40]

Something about this doesn't look authentic to the period. The typography is very clean and precise for the era. And the font family, Franklin Gothic, wasn't commonly used by Topps during that time.

I'm not calling this out as a fake, but I have a healthy dose of skepticism without more info about it's origin.

[swarmee]

I'm not an expert, but when I saw the list of names it also made me wonder if it was a fantasy piece.