This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/12/2021
By the time he was 15, Mickey Mantle was playing semipro ball with the Baxter Springs Whiz Kids, a local team of miners, former high-school stars, and even a former minor leaguer once in a while. One day late in that 1948 season, a New York Yankees scout named Tom Greenwade came to Baxter Springs to evaluate one of Mantle’s teammates, a third baseman named Billy Johnson. But his focus quickly turned to the 16-year-old shortstop, who hit two long home runs, one right-handed and one left-handed. Both landed in a creek well beyond the outfield fence. After the game, Greenwood approached Mantle and asked: “How would you like to play for the Yankees?” Mickey and his father were both stunned at first, but soon became excited about the prospect of Mickey becoming a Yankee. Greenwade explained that because Mickey was only 16 years old, he would have to wait until he graduated from high school before the Yankees could sign him. Sure enough, when Mantle graduated the next spring, Greenwade offered him a contract to play for the Yankees’ Class D minor-league team in Independence, Kansas. He received a $1,100 signing bonus and a salary of $400 for the rest of the season. In 1949 he hit an impressive .315 for the Independence Yankees in the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri (KOM) League. The featured example of the ever popular 1954 Bowman card has been graded NM/MT 8 by PSA. Three of the corners appear NM/MT or even better with the lower left corners showing a little flip to the corner while retaining the formation of the corner. The color is exceptional and is void of the print that so often plagues this difficult card. The reverse printing is astute with no pitfalls. A terrific example.