This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/22/2019
There are few events in baseball's post-war era more memorable than the famed 1961 home run race between Yankees teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Mantle got off to the hotter start, but Maris caught up a quarter of the way through the season. The two home run bashers traded the lead back and forth until Maris took over almost three-quarters of the way to the finish line. When Mantle dropped out due to injury with four games to go, Maris only had Babe Ruth standing in his way, surpassing the Bambino's single-season home run total in the season's final game. Though larger than the game itself for the time, there are surprisingly few Mantle/Maris signed baseballs that have surfaced over the decades since. Well, we've got an extremely outstanding piece here, an Official American League (MacPhail) ball with Mickey Mantle's signature across the sweet spot and a satisfyingly bold Roger Maris signature just to the left of the major league stamp. If you're an advanced autograph collector, an avid Yankees fan, this is a perfect addition to your collection. LOA from JSA.