Topp Heritage National #410 Mickey Mantle - BCCG 10 - 2007

NEW

Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 - August 13, 1995), like his predecessor in the New York Yankees centerfield, Joe DiMaggio, became one of the most popular figures in sports history both during and after his playing career. Raised in Oklahoma, Mickey was the son of Mutt Mantle, a lead miner and former minor league player in his own right, who reared him to be a big league player and taught The Mick how to bat from both sides of the plate in anticipation of manager options as relievers were becoming more prevalent. As a teenager, his baseball career, and potentially his life was nearly ended when he suffered a injury that turned into a severe infection on the football field in high school. When a Yankees scout came to see one of Mantle's teammate's Mickey hit three home runs in the game and wowed fans and the scout alike. The New York Yankees signed Mickey a year later after his high school graduation and assigned him to the minor leagues. Mantle's meteoric rise through the ranks of the New York farm system compounded by the press' coverage of the young phenom who the dubbed to become the "next" Yankees star. He was originally assigned the number "6" to follow Babe Ruth's #3, Lou Gehrig's #4 and teammate Joe DiMaggio's #5. And, to add to the extraordinary pressure, DiMaggio announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 1951 season, Mickey's rookie campaign.