1951 Mickey Mantle Spring Training Score Book and Ticket Stub- SOLD!!

[Scott Garner]

I'm selling a very cool pair of items related to the early beginnings of 19-year old HOF'er Mickey Mantle's career in 1951 Spring Training.
Price reduced below

Offered here is an original scorebook and ticket stub from the game played on April 7, 1951 between the Bronx Bombers and the Boston Braves at Burnett Field in Dallas, TX.

HOF NYY Mickey Mantle is on this spring training roster playing centerfield in Yankees uniform #6, which predates his change to his famous #7 later during his rookie season in 1951.
$350 or best offer delivered to the 1st person to e-mail me
My e-mail is: scott.garner@att.net.

HERE IS SOME BACKGROUND INFO RE: the NYY's 1951 SPRING TRAINING OUT WEST:

In the spring of 1951, for the first and only time, the Bronx Bombers went West for Spring Training to get rejuvenated in Arizona, California and Texas. And there emerged Mickey Mantle, the youthful star who would not only lead the dynasty to another string of titles but also replace the irreplaceable Joe DiMaggio.

A young fan once heckled Al Kaline for not being "half the player Mickey Mantle is!" The Tigers star replied, "Son, nobody is half the player Mickey Mantle is."
It was in February of 1951 that baseball fans got their first glimpse of the player Mickey Mantle was. Yankees manager Casey Stengel had assembled a camp of some 25 rookies for an instructional school in Phoenix, Ariz. and Mantle quickly became the focus of Stengel's attention. The dynastic Yankees were rarely impulsive about promoting minor leaguers-much less kids from the low minors; but when Casey saw Mantle, he began wondering whether this time the old rules didn't apply. "This kid ain't logical," Stengel complained. "He's too good. It's very confusing."
The awe with which Stengel viewed his new thoroughbred was shared by the press which devoted voluminous ink to chronicle Mantle's arrival on the baseball scene. First the kid was a switch-hitter, which by itself was a rarity. At the time of Mantle's arrival, the American League featured just one regular switch-hitter, Dave Philley of the Athletics. Moreover, switch-hitting was seen as a device employed by hitters who were lacking other weapons. Of the switch-hitters that had preceded Mantle (Frankie Frisch, Red Schoendeinst and Max Carey were the best), nearly all were disdainful of the longball. In 1951, the career leader in home runs by a switch-hitter was Ripper Collins with 135. The idea of tape-measure power from both sides of the plate was enough to get anyone's attention. But Mantle was also the fastest thing on cleats that anyone could remember seeing. The first time Stengel saw Mantle running windsprints with other players at his rookie camp, he couldn't believe his eyes. He had them run again, and then put Mantle against everyone in camp. "My God," Stengel said. "The boy runs faster than Cobb."

©1998 Spring Training Inc.
This article first appeared in the 1998 issue of Spring Training