LOT #82357 |
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1973 Mickey Mantle Last Home Run Baseball (Old Timer's Game) Signed by Mantle & Whitey Ford....
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Sold on Oct 5, 2024 for:
$18,600.00
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Description
1973 Mickey Mantle Last Home Run Baseball (Old Timer's Game) Signed by Mantle & Whitey Ford. No man, not even Babe Ruth, launched as many long balls into the cheap seats of Yankee Stadium as Mickey Mantle, and while the offered sphere cannot be counted among his record tally of 266 (Ruth had 259 in the Bronx), it is representative of the very last time the Mick circumnavigated that hallowed diamond.The date was August 11, 1973, and over 46,000 fans watched as the Houks (including Mantle, Elston Howard and Allie Reynolds) faced off against the Stengels (with Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize and Phil Rizzuto) in a friendly Old Timer's Day competition. Anxious to give that crowd the kind of show they craved, Ford served up what amounted to batting practice to his fellow retiree, who fouled off a couple pitches before sending this baseball into the left field stands. He'd run the bases with his head down in his standard style, moving more slowly than the old days and with a pronounced limp. But the stadium thundered its approval for this last trip down memory lane.
A vintage handwritten notation on a side panel reads, "Micky (sic) Mantle's 537th home run, Yankee Stadium, Aug. 11, 1973, Old Timer's Day," applied to the surface by a woman named Joni Cambart, who has also signed the ball. The ball first entered the collecting marketplace in a 1991 Leland's auction, and that listing indicated that the ball was on display at a sports bar in the shadow of Yankee Stadium for years. The winning bidder in that auction approached Mantle and Ford at a signing to acquire the perfect blue ballpoint autographs from those Hall of Famers, the recipient recalling that Mantle said he loved that home run as he'd hit it off of his close friend.
A ticket stub (VG with handwriting on verso) from the game, acquired later by that winning bidder in the Leland's auction (not the stub belonging to the woman who caught the ball) is included, as is a photocopy of the 1991 Leland's catalog listing. Full LOA from PSA/DNA.
Auction Info
2024 October 4 - 6 Fall Sports Catalog Auction #50074 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
October, 2024
4th-6th
Friday-Sunday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 15
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 740
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
20% of the successful bid per lot.
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