This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/15/2020
With his legendary career winding down, Topps took the opportunity to further flaunt the wonderful photography of the 1967 set by delivering Mickey Mantle in a close-up portrait against an eye-catching baby blue backdrop, an unexpected departure after years of being portraying "The Commerce Comet" in his lefty or right batting stance. While the Yankees had fallen well out of contention and Mantle was no longer putting up anything close to the legendary numbers he did in the 50s and the early 60s, he was still a fan favorite with some pop in his bat, registering 23 home runs in just 333 at-bats while raising his batting average back up to .285. More importantly, Mantle was just four homers short of the milestone 500-home run club, further driving the popularity of this '67 Topps card. The featured example has earned a well-respected PSA 9 grade due to its excellent centering, a fantastic portrayal of the central image and strong MINT to GEM MINT corners. Everything on the front surface appears particularly bright as if it originated from a pack opened recently rather than over 50 years ago. The reverse helps support that hypothesis as the deep lime-green color is unusually intense, showing no signs of fading or chipping along the edges. A supremely elite example of "The Mick" for one of the most popular sets of the decade. Over 8,000 have been graded by PSA and just 2 have graded higher.