Topps & Mickey Mantle Reunite

A relationship that has brought Mickey Mantle fame and Topps fortune over the past 44 years has been renewed. Under the agreement, the Mantle family grants Topps exclusive rights for all trading cards, including inserts, memorabilia cards, cut signatures and the use of Mantle’s image on packaging and advertising.

With access to the family photo collection, upcoming Topps releases will chronicle the life and times of Mantle with a large array of base and insert cards featuring never-released photos of the prolific slugger.

Topps 2006 contains more than 1,200 game-used Mantle bat relic cards, each selling for $140-$350 depending on its scarcity. The “Mickey Mantle HR History” insert set begins with Series 1 and will continue in Topps Series 2 and Updates & Highlights. These horizontal cards sport an early ‘50s design and are readily available for under $3.

Series 1 also features the missing #7 cards from the last nine years, each sporting a rare Mantle photo. Topps retired card #7 in 1997 to honor the great Yankee slugger. The new #7s are selling on eBay for $3-$6. All future Topps and Topps Chrome sets will feature Mantle on card #7.

Topps 2006 Baseball appeals to novice set builders, deep-pocketed memorabilia afficionados, and all collectors in between. With such an inclusive fan base, expect the base brand and its Chrome counterpart to sustain popularity throughout the summer and beyond. The set features one Mantle insert per box and 12 per case, while the popular card #7s are easy finds.

Topps recently purchased rare Mantle memorabilia, including a first baseman’s glove valued at $18,000, at least two game-worn jerseys, and an “off-the-field” suit. These and other items will appear at the 2006 All-Star Fanfest and will eventually be incorporated into Topps memorabilia sets.

Mantle game-used jerseys from the ‘50s and ‘60s are extremely rare. According to Beckett Baseball, three were purchased at auctions over the past 18 months for $110,000-$145,000. Because Mantle bats – currently selling for $15,000-$20,000 – are easier finds, expect more bat cards than jersey cards in upcoming releases. A game-used jersey typically produces 2,000 swatches of fabric and a bat produces approximately 1,2000 chips.

Topps Triple Threads, scheduled for release in early April, will include a handful of rare Mantle memorabilia cards. The series will also feature “Cut Signature” cards of Mantle and Ted Williams as well as memorabilia and autographed cards of Roberto Clemente, Hank Greenberg, Buck O’Neil, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens. Expect to pay in excess of $80 per pack for the Topps showpiece series.

The long, storied history between Topps and Mantle began in 1952, when the Topps Chewing Gum co. marketed images of baseball players to help sell gum. As baseball became a cornerstone American life during the ‘50s and ‘60s, Mantle emerged as the game’s most prolific player, leading the Yankees to 12 Pennants and seven World Series titles. He won the Triple Crown in 1959 and was named the AL MVP in 1956, 1957, and 1962.

The ‘52 Topps card, the second Mantle card issued (Bowman released the true rookie a year earlier), has become the most sought-after postwar card and remains the most recognizable sports card ever produced.