Opinions Wanted re: Mickey Mantle Program

[Al C.risafulli]

Thanks, guys. To my knowledge, the only thing that changed in most scorecards was the centerfold page, the rest of the books were pre-printed, and I believe the lineups and rosters were actually just crash-printed onto a pre-printed page, so there's not much typesetting that needed to be done. Some clubs didn't even staple them in (I have a 1907 program in our next auction where the centerfold page is just folded and inserted). I figure if the New York Daily News could typeset, print and deliver 2.4 million newspapers a day, baseball teams can typeset and print a single page, particularly if the press is in the stadium itself.

Regarding the exhibition between Brooklyn and the Yankees two days before Opening Day, while Markland played in that game, boxscores would indicate that Phil Rizzuto was the starting shortstop. He had three at bats and five putouts before Markland came into the game. Rizzuto was also projected to be the starting shortstop in an April 16 exhibition against the Senators that was rained out. So it would make sense that if Rizzuto was the starting shortstop in an exhibition two days before opening day, and was the starting shortstop in a rained out exhibition the day before opening day, and if newspapers reported on April 12 that he would be the starting shortstop on opening day, that his name would appear in the scorecard as the starting shortstop for opening day.

Further, Mantle hit third and played right in the exhibition against Brooklyn and it was known the week prior that he'd be playing, so it makes sense that he would be printed in the scorecard for opening day and not left out of the lineup altogether.

I think the wildcard here isn't Markland in the starting lineup, which was unfortunately printed or projected nowhere - it's the presence of Hank Bauer in the starting lineup as the leadoff hitter in the THIRD program that's been sold as the Mantle Opening Day scorecard that I wonder about. Jackie Jensen started that game, but I've seen an example of the scorecard with Bauer's name crossed out (thanks to an astute collector who sent it to me) and Jensen's name penciled in, and then scored as the Opening Day.

So there are two different scorecards out there that have actually been SCORED as if they were Mantle's first game and sold in the hobby - neither of them are the one I have, as both the ones that have been consigned to me were blank (the one I've got now has the pitcher's names written in, but that could've been done at any time).

I don't question whether the scorecards can be printed on game day - thousands of milestone scorecards with the correct lineups printed in them for other games serve as pretty solid indicators, to me, that that was common. What I question is which one was printed on the actual Opening Day, and I'm not sure we're going to be able to unequivocally answer the question, sadly.

-Al

[nolemmings]

So Al, I'm probably being a bit obtuse here, but do you dismiss the possibility that all three were printed in advance of the series, and then distributed incorrectly?

There are two scorecards, different from one another, that each have pre-printed lineups other than the lineups actually in play for the Opener, yet each scores the game in pencil consistent with what happened that day. It seems to me that here are the only possibilities for those scorecards:

1. Both are false-- scorecards from other games that contain subsequently added notations in pencil.
2. Both are true-- scorecards that were in use on Opening Day, despite the inaccurate listing of starting lineups.
3. One is true and one is false.

Two out of the three possibilities would have required the printing of different scorecards before the Opener. The only way that doesn’t hold is if one was printed prior to Game 1, the other was not, and the multiple LOTG “true lineup” scorecards were themselves printed after Game 1, which makes little sense.

I am sure you do not wish to cast aspersions on prior auctions of the other scorecards, but it seems that either these others were not actually in the ballpark on Opening Day (despite their accuracy as to game action and in one case some anecdotal evidence that it came from the Opener) or that different scorecards were printed beforehand. So, even if scorecards could have been printed singly between games, and perhaps easily so at that, isn't it possible that two or maybe all three were printed before the series began?

[Al C.risafulli]

Todd:

I am not dismissing the possibility that the three scorecards were printed before the series, but I personally find it unlikely, given that would require two opposing managers to present someone with three different projected lineups for games several days into the future. I think it's more likely that each was printed on a single day.

That being said, when I research this type of thing, I think there is a subtle but really important difference between A) researching something to discover what it is, and B) researching something to prove it is what I think it is. I think the latter often causes one to ignore clear evidence that doesn't fit the narrative. I try to always do the former. Not saying I always succeed, but I try.

Going into this exercise I was looking for evidence of what game the program was printed for. The presence of Markland in the printed roster and the fact that it was for a Yankee/Red Sox game means it can only have been printed for one of three games (whether it was printed on the same day or on three different days). The mystery here is that three different scorecards have all been uncovered, and all three have been purported to come from the same game.

I think it's more likely that the one with the closest lineup to the actual game lineup is the "right" one, and that the penciled-in scoring could've happened at any time from the day of the game right up until yesterday. Sure, there are things that cause a lineup to change - the manager says "Hank Bauer is starting tomorrow," then Bauer comes into the clubhouse with a sore knee, a hangover, a crick in his neck, and the manager says "Nah, you're sitting the bench, I'm putting Jackie Jensen in." But if you've got the right lineup printed in the scorecard, that's fairly compelling evidence that the scorecard was produced for that day's game.

That being said, I can't see any way that we can unequivocally dismiss any of your scenarios 1, 2, or 3. I think it is most likely that the "true lineup" scorecard was printed for Opening Day, but can't dismiss the possibility that either of the other two - or all three - were printed at some point before the game. I can't even dismiss the possibility that all three were distributed on Opening Day, or even on all three days! People make mistakes. All the scorecards look the same! Could someone sitting in the right field bleachers and someone sitting behind home plate have purchased two different scorecards, even though they were there on the same day? Sure. Is it likely? I don't know. You like to think everybody knows how to do their job when they do it every day, and then you go stand on line at the DMV and see how poorly that theory plays out when it's put into practice.

I think if nothing else, it's an interesting discussion, and the way to handle it is to present the scorecard in the auction and present all the different pieces and then let the bidders decide what they think.

It's funny - the first time I sold this scorecard I was made aware of the second one (with all the cross-outs). I only became aware of the third one when I started researching this a second time. Maybe there's a fourth one out there somewhere!

-Al

[ruth-gehrig]

Why am I thinking the auction should be up today(7/22/19)?

[Al C.risafulli]

That's what was initially published. We picked up a really large collection and it set us back a week or so. Preview will be posted near the end of the week, auction will go live during the National and close on the 24th.

-Al

[ruth-gehrig]

Thanks! I can wait until then