Topps began making cards in 1951 in their six-story headquarters on 254 36th Street in Brooklyn. In their second year, they unknowingly created a card that would define an industry. To create the 1952 set, Topps bought black and white player photographs from baseball teams. They sent them to Woody Gelman and Ben Solomon, artists in Manhattan. The artists colored them in with paint to give them their look. Topps legend Sy Berger wrote the narratives on the card backs.
In 1952, Topps created the Mona Lisa of the trading card industry. Berger described Mantle as “DiMaggio’s successor” on the back of the card—the biggest shoes to fill at the time. The front of the card reveals a stunning colored photograph of Mantle (the International News Service took the photo at a pre-season training camp in Phoenix, Arizona in 1951), breathtaking color scheme, iconic nameplate, and beautiful all-around presentation. In a league of its own, the ‘52 Mantle should thrive in perpetuity as it has become as big in the industry as Mantle was in the sport.
Learn more about this seismic printing in our Guide to the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Card: https://www.fanaticscollect.com/definitive-guides/a-guide-to-the-1952-topps-mickey-mantle-card
The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 06/26/2025.
