1952 & 1953 Mickey Mantle Game Worn New York Yankees World Series Jersey - Photo Matched to Both World Series!...

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Matched to 1952 clincher and Mantle's only WS grand slam!

1952 & 1953 Mickey Mantle Game Worn New York Yankees World Series Jersey - Photo Matched to Both World Series! When the Yankee Clipper sailed off into the sunset after a decade and a half of residence, Yankee Stadium's vast center field saw its ownership transferred to a youngster from Oklahoma whose rookie season had been such an uneven affair that Mickey Mantle had entertained the notion of abandoning his Big Apple dreams for the mines where his father eked out a hard living. Mantle had shown flashes of the brilliance during that first Major League season, but it was in 1952 that those flashes would grow common enough to illuminate the speedy switch-hitter in the glow that would ultimately light his path to Cooperstown. Like Babe Ruth before him, Mantle subscribed to the motto of "Swing big, hit big, miss big" this year, leading the American League in both on-base plus slugging (OPS) and strikeouts, earning his first of twenty All-Star nods and finishing third in balloting for the 1952 American League Most Valuable Player.

This remarkable road gray flannel jersey was issued to Mantle for wear during the 1952 World Series competition that closed out that transformative sophomore campaign, and we find our first photograph of him donning the garment moments after the conclusion of that season and the Game Seven victory at Ebbets Field over the Yanks' perennial National League rival Brooklyn Dodgers. The absence of the Yankees Golden Anniversary patch on the left sleeve worn throughout the regular season, or any evidence of its removal, leads the experts to the conclusion that the 1952 Fall Classic was the entry point of the garment into Mantle's wardrobe, as the team dropped this adornment for that high-stakes Subway Series.

MeiGray utilizes the distinct grain of the flannel to affirm a definitive match to Getty Image #517250452 that finds Mantle whooping it up in the visitors clubhouse at Ebbets in celebration of the October 7th clincher. Mantle's sixth inning solo home run off Dodgers ace Joe Black, the second of his still-standing record of eighteen, broke a 2-2 tie en route to a 4-2 final, thus the decisive blow that extended the Yankees championship reign to four consecutive years.

Outrageously, the second definitive match made by the experts at MeiGray once again finds the Mick in a celebratory mood in the visitors clubhouse of Ebbets Field, this time following a 1953 World Series Game Five victory in which Mantle's third inning bases-loaded homer-the only grand slam of his record eighteen-proved to be the decisive margin in the 11-7 victory. Getty Image #52983223 finds the game's hero holding up a four-fingered grand slam salute and pantless, allowing a view of the distinctive "52 - 2" tail embroidery that anchors the photo match. But here we must make an important assertion that the "NEW YORK" chest lettering is likewise drawn into the assessment, demonstrating the perfect fidelity to the subject jersey in placement and construction.

We direct attention to this fact to address an unusual and intriguing aspect of the jersey that is discussed in leading uniform expert Dave Grob's detailed assessment. Grob affirms that the legendary number "7" on verso and all tagging, identifiers, and buttons are original to the jersey's production, however the threads that once affixed the "NEW YORK" to the chest have been cut away, leaving those original letters to be held in place solely (and still extremely firmly) by the vintage adhesive behind them. Close inspection of the lettering reveals a "deckle edge" effect and original stitching holes, leaving no doubt that these letters were once sewn down. This leads us to the logical conclusion that the jersey was being prepared for delivery to a Yankees farm club through the standard operating procedure of removing the front identifiers, but after the threads were cut and the jersey was laundered it became apparent that the adhesive used to position the letters prior to being stitched down before the 1952 World Series proved too resilient for those letters to be stripped without damage to the jersey.

Further evidence supporting this conclusion exists in the fascinating post-Mantle provenance, documented in a selection of newspaper articles from 1993. In the interest of brevity, we'll touch only on the key points and allow our bidders to read the source materials themselves. In the spring of 1955, this jersey was part of a charitable donation from the Yankees' spring training facility at Fort Lauderdale to an orphanage in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where a young resident named Bob Payne was fascinated to watch a crate disgorge a bounty of 1952 Yankees jerseys. Like many Eisenhower-era baseball fans, Mickey Mantle was a personal hero of Payne's, and he was disappointed when a fellow orphan-a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, no less-ended up with this jersey. But Payne was not deterred, and saved up his $1.25 monthly allowance for two months in order to buy this jersey for the princely sum of two dollars and fifty cents. In the photographs accompanying the newspaper article, the "NEW YORK" lettering is a match to both that 1953 grand slam celebration photograph and the jersey in its current state. The fact that the jersey was delivered to an orphanage to bring joy to some unfortunate children rather than to a lower level of the franchise for secondary farm club wear was due to the fact that the jersey's stubborn adhesive made the latter option an impossibility. And, again, we must restate that the positioning of those front identifiers never changes from the 1950's photographs to the 1990's photographs to the jersey's present state.

A third and interesting (if less momentous) photo match has been made to Associated Press image #5403020240, a March 2, 1954 photo of Mantle down in Florida for spring training. Once again, we see perfect allegiance between the front identifiers of the subject jersey and this spring training photograph. Clearly the garment remained a year down in the Sunshine State, untouched, before its delivery to the orphanage the following spring.

The jersey demonstrates moderate to heavy game wear as one would expect for its lengthy and glorious service to its master. All original buttons are present. Some areas of slight toning will be apparent in our lot imagery. Interior collar stacks an "A.G. Spalding & Bros." manufacturer's label and size "44" identifier above a white felt swatch embroidered "M. Mantle." Very minor moth damage affects this swatch. Lower left front tail provides the "52-2" embroidery that serves as a key data point in the 1953 World Series photo match.

This is the earliest photo matched Mantle jersey ever to appear upon the auction block, and one of the most important post-war jerseys known to survive to present day. Its proven connection to two of the greatest days of Mickey Mantle's service in Fall Classic competition easily validates the claim. LOA from SGC, Excellent. Photo match LOA from MeiGray. LOA from Heritage Auctions.