Friday, April 24, 2015

The Commerce Comet

You know The Commerce Comet. He was named after his Dad's favorite ballplayer, Gordon Cochrane. Despite being diagnosed with Osteomyelitis from an infected ankle, his leg was saved from amputation by a midnight ride to Tulsa (possibly the second most important midnight ride in American History?).

He caught the eye of a scout while playing for the Semi-Pro Baxter Springs Whiz Kids. The scout was there to see Whiz Kids' Third Baseman Billy Johnson - not to be confused with future teammate and New York Yankee of the same name. Little Billy was upstaged by a teenaged titan - The Commerce Comet hit three homeruns in the game, and the scout returned to sign the young slugger after his high school graduation.
You know the stories - hard drinking, reckless behavior; and dazzling baseball sidetracked and derailed by debilitating injuries. Mickey Charles Mantle is an icon. Especially on cardboard.

It might be the least expensive one out there - but I really love the design. I prefer it to some of the base cards with big close up head shot portraits.

I was checking out some ending soon auctions eBay and noticed that this card had zero bids - I assumed that someone was getting ready to swoop in and snipe it, but I figured I would put in a bid just for fun.

Well, I won, and I'm happy to report I am the proud owner of my first Mickey Mantle card!

 Not the best shape in the world, but it's still gorgeous! Sent to me all the way from jolly old England!

9 comments:

  1. Killer card! The '58 All-Stars are awesome.

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    1. Yeah, I think this might be my favorite design of the topps/sport magazine all-star cards. I like that there are stats on the back too. I'm not real fond of the 60's all-star cards that have a puzzle/poster image on the back.

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  2. One of the very best cards ever. SBL is right..the '58 All Star cards are just great.

    I bid on so many of this Mantle I lost count before I finally nabbed one. Congrats!

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  3. Great - thanks a frigging lot for reminding me I don't have a Mantle.

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    1. Dang. Sorry man! This one is one of the cheapest ones out there, though, I bet you could find one for a reasonable price. The card may have been double or even triple printed, so even though it is high number card, it is not considered scarce compared to others from the same series.
      This one just happened to fall into my lap, usually Mantle cards are priced way beyond my comfort zone.

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  4. Congrats and welcome to the Mantle club! I'm a proud owner of his 1967 Topps card.

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    1. Nice! I bet there's a good story behind getting that one.

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