This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/6/2021
An up and coming superstar named Mickey Mantle was grabbing most of the New York headlines in 1951, but crosstown rookie Willie Mays was taking home hardware as the National League Rookie of the Year, smacking 20 homers in just 464 at-bats. That probably would have been enough for Mays to supplant Mantle as New York's "next big thing" but military service put the brakes on "The Say Hey Kid's" career for almost 2 seasons. Mays returned to immediately grab a National League batting title and putting on a power show that saw Willie smashing 481 round-trippers over the next 12 seasons. Up for auction is an ultra-sharp example of Willie Mays' second-year 1952 Bowman issue that has been graded NM/MT 8 by PSA. What appears to be NM/MT to NM/MT+ corners join borderline MINT edges around a finely tuned image of Mays, minimally favoring the right edge. An issue notorious for stray print marks, the only noticeable blemish is a blue dot to the left of Mays' bat, a common occurrence for the issue. A very high-quality card of a true legend!