Willie Mays

[Peter_Spaeth]

Mays, Day and Durocher were featured on the April 11, 1955, cover of “Sports Illustrated.” Day stands between the two men with her hands on both of their shoulders.

But in 1955, it was an outrage that a white woman would have her hand on a black man’s shoulder.

Letters were sent to the magazine, now only a year old, from outraged readers and others asking to cancel their subscriptions, according to Hirsch’s book.

Worse than the swimsuit issue!!!

[Kutcher55]

I popped open a couple of old price guides from 87 and 88 and at the time the 52T Mick sold for around 6x the 52 Mays. As an aside, the Campy card was around the same value as the Mays back in 1987-88.

Nowadays I think the 52 Mantle sells for about 10x a 52 Mays. It could be as low as 8x but it is definitely higher than 6x. Meanwhile the Mays now sells for 4x the price of a same grade Campy.

So I don’t think Mays has at all closed the gap to Mantle in 52T. If anything the gap has widened which is part of the reason I’m fond of that Mays issue because I think it continues to be undervalued. Now granted the 52T Mantle is a special animal — it is THE card — so it’s not surprising it has outpaced the Mays even though the Mays is probably one of the 20 most important and iconic cards in the hobby.

I think Mays has closed a bit of the gap to Mantle in later issues. Only a feel on this one. I can’t speak for 51B since I don’t know that market but I think Mays issues from 55 onward have probably outpaced the % growth of Mantle in the past two years.

[Kutcher55]

Good gosh, David. That 67 Mays PSA is absolutely cherry!

[Kutcher55]

Was curious and looked at a year in which neither card is particularly “special.”

1959 Topps — since mid 2019 a PSA5 Mays has essentially tripled from 100 to 300. A PSA5 Mantle has doubled from ~375 to 750.

Supports the idea that Mays has made up ground in later issues but not so much in 52T.