The 43rd annual National Sports Card Convention, colloquially known as The National is currently ongoing and in town (suburban Rosemont, actually to be specific). You won’t have to look hard to find a 52 Mickey Mantle card, as this convention inspires people to bring only their best and brightest cards to trade and sell.
And the 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card (Topps; #311) is the pinnacle of the hobby.
A 9.6 graded version of the card sold at auction on August 28, 2022, for $12.6 million, breaking all previous records. Yes, it’s the most expensive card of all-time, and no doubt the most iconic.
And they are scarce too, with the higher-ups at Topps artificially making it so. Yes, back in the day, the manufacturers and designers literally took barges out into the Atlantic Ocean and intentionally dumped numerous cases of ’52 Topps high numbered sets into the water.
But we’re not here to talk about the cards that were drowned, nor the one that made history. Instead we want to focus on this specific card which was defaced and ruined.
Take a look at the one on the right:
Saw this at the National on Thursday, and it was available for the low low price of just $2,500.
You’ll notice how much the dealer was asking for the other two 52 Mickey Mantle cards, which were in much better shape. In other words, I really hope the joke was worth it.
I hope the person who drew glasses on him got a great chuckle out of this, because, simply put, this was an expensive joke. It cost them tens of thousands of dollars.
This was definitely the oddest and most memorable thing I saw at the show, and that really says something given how they are hundreds of tables setting up shop with all different kinds of memorabilia.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.