Monday, December 24, 2012

Favorite Cards of 2012 #8 - A Cliche, of sorts

As we continue the countdown of my favorite cards of the year, we come to this 1958 Mickey Mantle card.


This card didn't make it higher on the list because of how Topps has overdone Mickey Mantle.   Every year since 2005, card #7 in Topps Flagship has been Mickey Mantle.  Indeed, if you go to the search by player page at BaseballCardpedia, and plug in Mantle's name you will get 5,232 results.

Here is the breakdown by year of the number of Mantle cards issued (more text follows):


Year Cards
1951 1
1952 5
1953 4
1954 5
1955 6
1956 5
1957 3
1958 5
1959 4
1960 9
1961 9
1962 14
1963 9
1964 14
1965 5
1966 3
1967 9
1968 4
1969 4
1970 1
1971 1
1972 1
1973 2
1975 2
1976 5
1977 3
1978 2
1979 2
1980 6
1981 1
1982 15
1983 7
1984 6
1985 4
1986 19
1987 3
1988 3
1989 25
1990 11
1991 19
1992 32
1993 2
1994 56
1995 8
1996 147
1997 93
1998 29
1999 15
2000 22
2001 122
2002 71
2003 73
2004 67
2005 109
2006 1980
2007 1092
2008 695
2009 36
2010 70
2011 78
2012 179
Grand Total 5232


Did you catch that?  Of all those cards, only 114 were issued during his playing career.

So, while Mantle was a great player, and I do love this card, I think his cachet has been devalued by Topps' insistence on adding him to every freaking set they issue.  The value of this card for me was that it was the card that made me realize that I could own great vintage cards if I bargain hunted and, in retrospect, was the catalyst for my decision to finally eschew collecting virtually all modern cards.

1 comment:

  1. Mantle will forever be the favourite son of the Topps Co, just like the Yankees are their favourite team. I agree with you - yes Mantle was a great player, but Topps doesn't have to include him in every set and insert set. Sure give him the #7 card of the flagship brand - it's novelty. When are they going to reserve #44 card for Aaron or #24 card for Mays, that's what I'd like to know?

    ReplyDelete