This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/15/2017
Whether it's baseball historians at a seminar or just a bunch of "average Joes" bantering over a few beers, the question of baseball's all-time greatest player goes deeper than reciting a bunch of statistics or recounting some personal anecdotes. There is no clear cut right or wrong answer, but few would argue that Hall of Famer Willie Mays is at or near the top of the list of most talented diamond greats. Fellow Cooperstown resident Leo Durocher, who served in the majors as a player or manager for close to 50 years, once said of Mays, "If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases, and performed a miracle in the field every day, I'd still look you right in the eye and tell you that Willie was better." For a guy who missed nearly two full seasons due to military service and returned to immediately win a batting title, slam 41 homers, lead his team to a World Series championship and be named the NL MVP as Mays did in 1954, it's hard to argue with Durocher in that respect. Even with Mickey Mantle's debut coinciding with Mays in the 1951 Bowman set, the Mays RC still stands as one of the top 5 most important debut cards of the post-war era. The featured collectible is absolutely stunning and thoroughly worthy of its elite SGC 92 NM/MT+ 8.5 status if not higher. At least three if not all four endpoints seem to meet the qualifications for MINT and can make a case for GEM MINT, leading us to believe that the very slight centering bias toward the horizontal bottom edge might be the reason it wasn't graded a half-grade higher, though such a trivial imperfection would make the overall assessment harshly conservative. The sharply honed image of "The Say Hey Kid" is supported by bright and bold hues of tan, blue and green, combining to form an artistic masterpiece of one of the most recognized issues in the hobby that is properly protected by a generous helping of original factory gloss. The reverse is a pleasingly well-inked biography of the young phenom, placed upon a bright slate-gray stock with no significant disturbances. An added bonus is the extremely subtle rough cut that lines the horizontal edges. Without question, this is one of the finest examples that we have ever encountered and comes with our very strongest of recommendations!