1968 Mickey Mantle's Last New York Yankees Game Worn Jersey, MEARS A10--Signed & Photo Matched!...

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Sold on Feb 26, 2022 for:

$2,190,000.00 Bid Source: Internet bidder

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Also worn in the 1968 All-Star Game and for career home runs #534 and #535!

1968 Mickey Mantle's Last New York Yankees Game Worn Jersey, MEARS A10--Signed & Photo Matched! This is the third time this elite relic has found its way to the Heritage Auctions block, first selling for $486,000 in February 2017, and then again for $850,000 in August 2020. That rather substantial advancement in value was based upon nothing more than the steep incline the of elite sports collectibles market in general, with no further context added beyond the passage of time.

The jersey was previously listed as--and still remains--the one worn by the legendary Mickey Mantle as he struck the penultimate home run of his storied career, number 535. The event has been filed under the bold headline of "The Gift" in baseball history, a heartwarming tale of how a young pitcher engaged in the final thirty-win season ever registered in the Majors essentially served up batting practice to a faded legend on the brink of retirement with the intention of allowing Mantle to homer near the end of a game and an American League season already safely in the hands of the Detroit Tigers. Denny McLain's charity toss on September 19, 1968 would carry the Mick past the great Jimmie Foxx with just eight games remaining in his Hall of Fame career.

The first six of those games were played in Bronx pinstripes, and Mantle would launch his 536th and final career home run the day after McLain's free pass, a solo shot off visiting Boston Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg on September 20th. Remarkably, that same towering right-hander would face Mantle in his final career plate appearance as the Yanks closed out the 1968 season at Fenway Park. Batting third, Mantle would pop out to Rico Petrocelli at shortstop in the top of the first and then take a seat in the Yankees dugout. In the bottom of the inning, Andy Kosco trotted out to take Mantle position on defense. On September 28, 1968, after 2,401 regular season appearances, one of the greatest careers in baseball history was over.

Many hobbyists quite reasonably wondered if that McLain "Gift" jersey and the one Mantle was wearing as he took his final competitive steps upon a professional diamond were one and the same, and this jersey returns to the Heritage auction block in February 2022 with a thrilling answer in the affirmative. That confirmation is the result of a difficult and painstaking study of the limited photography and television footage from the Mick's last stand that uses the unique arch of the "NEW YORK" lettering on the chest and the positioning of the fabled number "7" on verso to establish a definitive match. The thick ream of paperwork that documents this conclusion will be available to all interested parties in its entirety at our online lot listing.

Interior collar holds embroidered "Mantle" swatch, while lower left front tail holds twin "Wilson" brand labeling reporting size "42" and "1968 Set 2" respectively. The jersey exhibits moderate game wear and presents in 100% original and unaltered condition, garnering the highest possible rating from the experts at MEARS. The 8/10 blue sharpie inscription at upper right chest reads, "To Tom, A Great Friend Always, 'The Mick,'" the original recipient having been the president of the "Mickey Mantle Museum" in Cooperstown and highly-regarded hobby expert Tom Catal, who supplies a letter speaking to the McLain home run provenance.

It was Mantle himself who informed his buddy Tom about the garment's connection to his final round-tripper wearing road gray, and it's frankly no surprise that Mickey would have focused his own attention more firmly upon the cooling embers of his greatness rather than the moment a little over a week later when the Commerce Comet faded to black. But surely now we can all agree that it was the young Denny McLain, at the red-hot center of his own prime, who most clearly understood the magnitude of this closing chapter.

The instant that Petrocelli gloved Mantle's pop-up on September 28, 1968, a history dating back nearly a half-century came to an end. With the exception of three seasons during the Second World War, an all-time legend of the game had actively served as the face of the New York Yankees, and of Major League Baseball itself. From Ruth to Gehrig to DiMaggio to Mantle, this unbroken chain bound countless American hearts to our national pastime, and powered an era of glory unlike any other in sports history. Place this jersey at the center of one hundred years of Yankees history, and you'll find twenty World Championships before it, and just seven since.

Taking a wider view of Mickey Mantle as a cultural figure, we see in his retirement another blow struck against the American idealism that held sway over our nation between the end of the Second World War and the era of political assassinations and societal strife of the late 1960's. Meanwhile, the advent of free agency would transform Major League teams from longstanding families into roving bands of mercenaries. We had lost not only the last true baseball icon, but the ecosystem in which such a figure was even possible.

So it's a true challenge to adequately express the towering significance of this jersey in the history of the New York Yankees, of Major League Baseball, and of America itself. Simon and Garfunkel got it wrong when they asked Joe DiMaggio where he'd gone. It was Mickey Mantle that closed out the dynasty, wearing this jersey, and there could never be another one like it. LOA from MEARS, A10. Photo Match LOA from Jake Glassey. Letter of provenance from Tom Catal. Full LOA from Beckett Authentication Services. LOA from Heritage Auctions. Full LOA from PSA/DNA.