MICKEY MANTLE 1953 BOWMAN COLOR CARD #59 SGC GRADED 50 NEW YORK YANKEES HOF!

Description: You are purchasing a Mickey Mantle SGC graded 5 card from 1953 Bowman Color. There is a very minor scratch on the back of the top left of the case- not on the card. You can see Mickey Mantle in front of Yankees stadium in color photography. Mickey is the youngster who inherited the Yankee centerfield spot from Joe DiMaggio, and the fact that he should hold it for many years to come was borne out by his averages in 1952, his first full season with the Yanks. His slugging percentage of .530 was the second best in the league. He began baseball in 1949, played in 96 games for the Yankees in 1951, but finished the season with Kansas City. Mantle is a 7 time World Series Champion and still holds the record for most World Series home runs, RBI’s, runs, walks, extra base hits and total bases. This card is a must have for any Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, Hall of Fame collector/fan/investor! Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995) is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Mantle was noted for his hitting ability, both for average and for power. He won the Triple Crown in 1956, leading the American League in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. He played his entire 18-year major-league professional career for the New York Yankees, winning 3 American League MVP titles and playing for 16 All-Star teams. Mantle played on 12 pennant winners and 7 World Championship clubs. He still holds the records for most World Series home runs (18), RBIs (40), runs (42), walks (43), extra-base hits (26), and total bases (123). On arrival at the Yankees April 17, 1951, he became the regular right fielder (playing only a few games in the infield between 1952 to 1955). Speaking of his prized rookie, Yankees manager Casey Stengel told SPORT magazine (June 1951) that, "He's got more natural power from both sides than anybody I ever saw." Joe DiMaggio, in his final season, called Mantle, "the greatest prospect I can remember." In his first game with the Yankees, Mantle wore uniform #6. In his first World Series Game, October 4, 1951, the Yankees were pitted against the Giants for what was Willie Mays's first World Series Game as well. Mantle moved to center field in 1952, replacing Joe DiMaggio, who retired at the end of the 1951 season after one year playing alongside Mantle in the Yankees outfield. He played center field full-time until 1965, when he was moved to left field. His final two seasons were spent at first base. Among Mantle's many accomplishments are all-time World Series records for home runs (18), runs scored (42), and runs batted in (40). Mantle also hit some of the longest home runs in Major League history. On September 10, 1960, he hit a ball left-handed that cleared the right-field roof at Tiger Stadium in Detroit and, based on where it was found, was estimated years later by historian Mark Gallagher to have traveled 565 feet (172 m). Another Mantle homer, this one hit right-handed off Chuck Stobbs at Griffith Stadium in Washington on April 17, 1953, was measured by Yankees traveling secretary Red Patterson (hence the term "tape-measure home run") to have traveled 565 feet (172 m). Though it is apparent that they are actually the distances where the balls ended up after bouncing several times there is no doubt that they both landed more than 500 feet (152 m) from home plate. At least twice Mantle hit balls off the third-deck facade at Yankee Stadium, nearly becoming the only player (other than Negro Leagues star Josh Gibson) to hit a fair ball out of the stadium during a game. On May 22, 1963, against Kansas City's Bill Fischer, Mantle hit a ball that fellow players and fans claimed was still rising when it hit the 110-foot (34 m) high facade, then caromed back onto the playing field. It was later estimated by some that the ball could have traveled 620 feet (190 m) had it not been impeded by the ornate and distinctive facade. While physicists might question those estimates, on August 12, 1964, he hit one whose distance was undoubted: a center field drive that cleared the 22-foot (6.7 m) batter's eye screen, beyond the 461-foot (141 m) marker at the Stadium. Although he was a feared power hitter from either side of the plate, Mantle considered himself a better right-handed hitter even though he had more home runs from the left side of the plate: 372 left-handed, 164 right-handed. That was due to Mantle having batted left-handed much more often, as the large majority of pitchers are right-handed. In addition, many of his left-handed home runs were struck at Yankee Stadium, a park that much friendlier to left-handed hitters than to right-handed hitters. When Mantle played for the Yankees, the distance to the right-field foul pole stood at a mere 296 feet (90 m), with markers in the power alleys of 344 and 407, while the left-field power alley ranged from 402 to 457 feet (139 m) from the plate. In 1956, Mantle won the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year. This was his "favorite summer," a year that saw him win the Triple Crown, leading the majors with a .353 batting average, 52 HR and 130 RBI on the way to his first of three MVP awards. Also in 1956, Mantle made a (talking) cameo appearance in a song recorded by Teresa Brewer, "I Love Mickey", which extolled Mantle's power hitting. The song was included in one of the Baseball's Greatest Hits CD's. Mantle may have been even more dominant in 1957, leading the league in runs and walks, batting a career-high .365 (second in the league to Ted Williams' .388), and hitting into a league-low five double plays. Mantle reached base more times than he made outs (319 to 312), one of two seasons in which he achieved the feat. On January 16, 1961, Mantle became the highest-paid baseball player by signing a $75,000 contract. DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg and Ted Williams, who had just retired, had been paid over $100,000 in a season, and Ruth had a peak salary of $80,000. But Mantle became the highest-paid active player of his time. During the 1961 season, Mantle and teammate Roger Maris chased Babe Ruth's single season home-run record. Five years earlier, in 1956, Mantle had challenged Ruth's record for most of the season and the New York press had been protective of Ruth on that occasion also. When Mantle finally fell short, finishing with 52, there seemed to be a collective sigh of relief from the New York traditionalists. Nor had the New York press been all that kind to Mantle in his early years with the team: he struck out frequently, was injury-prone, was a "true hick" from Oklahoma, and was perceived as being distinctly inferior to his predecessor in center field, Joe DiMaggio. Over the course of time, however, Mantle (with a little help from his teammate Whitey Ford, a native of New York's Borough of Queens) had gotten better at "schmoozing" with the New York media, and had gained the favor of the press. This was a talent that Maris, a blunt-spoken upper-Midwesterner, was never willing or able to cultivate; as a result, he wore the "surly" jacket for his duration with the Yankees. So as 1961 progressed, the Yanks were now "Mickey Mantle's team" and Maris was ostracized as the "outsider," and "not a true Yankee." The press seemed to root for Mantle and to belittle Maris. But Mantle was felled by an abscessed hip late in the season, leaving Maris to break the record. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 1964 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Mickey Mantle blasted Barney Schultz's first pitch into the upper right field stands at Yankee Stadium, which won the game for the Yankees, 2-1. Injuries slowed Mantle and the Yankees during the 1965 season, and they finished in 6th, 25 games behind the Minnesota Twins. Mantle hit .255 that season with only 19 home runs. After the 1966 season he was moved to first base with Joe Pepitone taking over his place in the outfield. Mantle's last home run came on September 20, 1968 off Boston’s Jim Lonborg. Career highlights and awards 20× All-Star (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1959², 1960, 1960², 1961, 1961², 1962, 1962², 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968) 7× World Series champion (1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1962) 3× AL MVP (1956, 1957, 1962) Gold Glove Award winner (1962) 1965 Hutch Award 1956 Triple Crown New York Yankees #7 retired Major League Baseball All-Century Team Career statistics Batting average .298 Home runs 536 Hits 2,415 Runs batted in 1,509 Awards and achievements Award/Honor # of Times Dates American League All-Star 20 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 19591, 19592, 19601, 19602, 19611, 19612, 19621, 19622, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968 American League batting champion 1 1956 American League home run champion 4 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960 American League MVP Award 3 1956, 1957, 1962 American League Gold Glove Award winner 1 1962 American League Triple Crown 1 1956 Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year 1 1956 Hickok Belt 1 1956 Hutch Award 1 1965 World Series champion 7 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1962 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Buy/ bid with confidence. 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Price: 2125 USD

Location: Haddonfield, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-07-21T17:20:10.000Z

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