Offered is an early Mickey Mantle signature on an index card from his earliest days with the New York Yankees. Mantle has signed his name in gray graphite pencil on a 3 x 5-inch white lined index card, above a pasted magazine photograph of the young Mantle in his gray Yankees road uniform, sans cap.  Mantle is smiling broadly under his crewcut. The Hall of Fame Yankees centerfielder was invited to the Yankees instructional camp before the 1951 season. After an impressive spring training, Yankees manager Casey Stengel decided to promote Mantle to the majors as a right fielder instead of sending him to the minors. After a brief slump, Mantle was sent down to the Yankees' top farm team, the Kansas City Blues. Called back up after 40 games with Kansas City, this time wearing uniform #7, he hit .267 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI in 96 games. In 1952, he made the move to centerfield and was selected an American League All-Star for the first time. In his first complete World Series (1952), Mantle was the Yankees hitting star, with an on-base percentage above .400 and a slugging percentage above .600. He homered for the third Yankee run in a 3–2 Game 6 win and he knocked in the winning runs in the 4–2 Game 7 win, with a homer in the sixth inning and an RBI single in the seventh inning. This item has been authenticated and encapsulated by PSA/DNA (83821039) and the signature is graded Authentic.

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