Appraisal: 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle Baseball Card

GUEST: My sister gave it to me about 12 years ago.

And she gave it to me because I had a close relationship with my brother-in-law.

He died at 53.

And she kept the card.

It's very special because I got it from her.

When I was young, baseball was a big deal for me, and I played for the Yankees.

In, uh... APPRAISER: You did?

GUEST: In, uh, in Little League, yes.

APPRAISER: Ah!

GUEST: In Little League, and I wore number seven.

I think he had number seven, wasn't it?

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And then my dad took me to a Yankees and, uh, Milwaukee Braves game, World, World Series game.

And Mickey Mantle was my hero at that time.

APPRAISER: Mickey Mantle was really, post-World War II, that era, he was the first baseball icon, right?

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: He was the center fielder for the New York Yankees, he succeeded Joe DiMaggio.

And they won all these great championships with him in '51, in '52...

GUEST: Yeah, they won... APPRAISER: ...'53, '56, '58.

GUEST: They won almost every year.

APPRAISER: You know, '61, '62.

And he hit home runs.

He was exciting, he was fast.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: In the c, world of sports cards, this card is probably one of the top five...

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: ...that are collected today.

Bowman created the 1951 series.

They originally had 252 cards.

GUEST: Uh-huh.

APPRAISER: And they decided to add another 72.

And aren't we lucky, because 253 is Mickey Mantle.

And later on...

GUEST: Oh, I see.

APPRAISER: ...they also added a Willie Mays.

So the higher-number cards-- they only come out for part of the year-- they're much scarcer.

GUEST: Yeah, really.

APPRAISER: This is Mickey Mantle's card from 1951.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: That's when he came up with the Yankees, the only year he played with Joe DiMaggio.

And he was known as the Commerce Rocket because he came from, from Commerce, Oklahoma.

GUEST: Oh, I see.

APPRAISER: And came up to the Big Leagues.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: And immediately electrified the Yankees.

He had one spell in the minor leagues.

His father came and talked to him and actually said, "I'll take you home."

And Mickey said, "No, no, no, no, no."

And he decided to go back to the Yankees, had a fantastic year until he got hurt in the World Series, and then had a tremendous career up until he retired in 1969.

The best-known post-World War II card is the s, '52 Topps card of Mantle.

But this is Mantle's true rookie card.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: So that is, right after the Topps card, the most collected after Honus Wagner.

So I'd put it on a scale, um, Wagner first, '52 Topps Mantle second, '51 Bowman Mantle after that.

But grading is really important.

Cards are graded on a scale of one to ten nowadays.

And I have to tell you, unfortunately, this is in tough condition.

GUEST: It is?

APPRAISER: This is not great condition.

The margins are not even here.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: You've got soiling that's happened all over here.

And then if we flip this around, you can see that the entire back has been soiled, okay?

So it's not the best example, and in fact, I'm not a professional grader, but if this card was graded, it would probably come out a 1 or a 1.5.

GUEST: That's not good, is it?

(chuckles) APPRAISER: It's all, that's all the bad news.

I'm giving you all the bad news first.

So have you ever had this valued?

Have you ever had it appraised?

GUEST: Well, my sister did before she gave it to me.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: I think she found at that time it was worth maybe $3,500.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Well, now I've got some good news for you.

GUEST: That's good.

APPRAISER: So even in the condition that this is in, poor condition, this is such a desirable card by collectors that I would put an auction estimate of at, of at least $8,000 to $10,000.

GUEST: Wow, yeah, that's great, yeah.

APPRAISER: (chuckles) GUEST: That, that's, that's pretty good appreciation, isn't it?

I never seen this program.

My friend Lynn invited me to this program, and I said, "Yeah."

She got two tickets.

APPRAISER: Was it worth the trip?

GUEST: A good program.

I may even watch it, watch it now.

APPRAISER: (laughs)