Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps. Little more needs to be said about a card many consider to be “the most important baseball card in the entire industry” and the card of the player most closely linked with the hobby.
But, we’ll try.
Just how deep does the connection between Topps and Mickey Mantle run?
Consider this: Topps essentially retired card #7 for more than two decades after Mick’s passing. That’s right, from 1996-2016, card #7 either was not issued in sets at all or it featured the legendary Yankee – an honor that has not been given to any other player before or since.
From the day he was born in 1931, Mantle seemed predestined for superstardom. His father, Mutt, had given him his first name to honor Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane, and imbued the young Mick with a love of baseball – setting into motion a life of meteoric highs on the diamond and a legacy that continues to outlive his much too short life.
1952 not only represented Mantle’s Topps debut, it also represented the year The Commerce Comet really took off. Mantle made his first of 18 consecutive All-Star teams, hit .311 with 23 home runs, and 87 RBIs, finished 3rd in American League MVP balloting and added the second of seven World Series rings to his ever growing cache.
PSA, the industry’s leading grading agency, said it best: “if there were a Mount Rushmore of cards and it was limited to one spot, this card would get it every time.”