Opening Day Auction 2014
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/26/2014
In 1948 New York Yankees scout Tom Greenwade went to see a game with the Baxter Springs Whiz Kids, a semi-pro baseball team in the summer “Cardinal Junior League”. Greenwade was there to scout a third baseman named Billy Johnson, but in that particular game Johnson’s teammate, Mickey Mantle, walloped three home runs. A year later in 1949, after Mantle graduated high school; Greenwade signed Mantle to his first pro contract. However, this was NOT the first time Greenwade saw Mantle play. According to the book Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes, Greenwade heard about Mantle from a Commerce Fire Dept member, who pleaded with Greenwade to see Mantle play. “Tom finally agreed to see Mickey play…and traveled to Alba to see the young shortstop. The Yankee scout wasn’t impressed. Mantle was small and scrawny.”
Offered is the August 16, 1948 issue of “The Baxter Springs Citizen” local newspaper of Baxter Springs, MO. The far left article is titled, “Whiz Kids Win over Alba, 14-1”. The fourth paragraph down reads “Johnson’s four hits in six trips to the plate took the batting honors for the day. Mickey Mantle, absent for the line-up for the past week, drove out two doubles.” Mantle is shown in the box score as the lead-off batter, playing shortstop. The victory of Alba put Baxter’s record at 6-3. We do not know for sure if this was the game which Greenwade first saw Mickey, but the odds are very good the famed Yankee scout may have been in attendance. Interestingly, the opposing Alba team’s No. 5 hitter, a shortstop named Boyer, is Ken Boyer, future major leaguer and 1964 NL MVP, who was born and raised in Alba, MO. The paper has the usual issues near the folds, including cracking down the middle, but none of these minor imperfections affect any of the Mickey Mantle article and box score. This is one of the earliest known Mickey Mantle printed baseball articles, a game which might have been the catapult to his tremendous career with the New York Yankees. Framed to a dimension of 19 x 25 inches.