Around the same time Mickey Mantle began swinging for the fences, the Topps chewing gum company began designing baseball cards in Brooklyn, coloring in photos with paint. The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle photo comes from a pre-season training camp photo taken by the International News Service in Phoenix, Arizona in 1951, capturing him at the beginning of his major league career. The image was one of many sent to Manhattan artists Woody Gelman and Ben Solomon. The artists colored them in with paint to give them their look. Legendary Topps writer Sy Berger created the card’s flip-side narrative.
These production ingredients, along with Mantle’s superlative baseball career and the adoration of the nation, combined to create what many consider the best sports card of all time.
The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 08/14/2025.
