Summer 2019 - Item detail
1951 Brooklyn Dodgers (vs. Yankees) Exhibition-Game Program and Ticket Stub - Mickey Mantle's New York Debut!
- Sold For:
- $480
- Year:
- 1951
- Auction:
- 2019 Summer
- Lot #:
- 2076
- Category:
- Post-1900 Baseball Memorabilia
Offered here is an extremely significant item that is almost certainly absent from even the most advanced Mickey Mantle collection: an exceedingly rare Brooklyn Dodgers program, issued for an exhibition game against the Yankees on April 14, 1951, that marks Mickey Mantle's first appearance in New York. Mantle made his major league debut with the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on April 17, 1951. However, it was not his New York City debut. That event occurred three days earlier when the Yankees played the second of three exhibition games against the Dodgers in New York. The first game occurred at Yankee Stadium on April 13th, while the other two games, on April 14th and 15th, took place at Ebbets Field. A fourth exhibition game for the Yankees, at Washington on April 16th, was ultimately rained out.
Although the cover to this 18-page program is dated 1950, there is no doubt that it was issued for the April 14, 1951 exhibition game between the Yankees and Brooklyn, as opposed to a 1950 exhibition game. It was a common practice of teams at the time to utilize their supply of leftover programs from the previous year for exhibition games, and that is exactly what the Dodgers did here. The preprinted lineup for the Yankees includes DiMaggio, Berra, and Mize, with Mantle (number "6") listed as a substitute. Robinson, Snider, Reese, and Campanella are listed in the Dodgers lineup. (Mantle wore number "6" only for the first part of the 1951 season.) While Mantle's name and number in the Yankees scorecard clearly date it to 1951, the program is accompanied by a ticket stub from the game, dated April 14, 1951, which has been affixed with tape to the Yankees scorecard section. Also affixed to both scoring sections is a cut newspaper article covering the game, which the Yankees won 11-5 (the program is not scored). The headline to the article reads in part "Mantle Gets 1 Safety in Debut." Much of the article is devoted to Mantle, because he was the star of the Yankees camp that spring. In part: "Mickey Mantle, the nineteen-year-old wizard of spring training, contributed a lone single, knocked in a run with a fielder's choice grounder, and threw out a runner at the plate in his local debut. . . . Mantle, who was up in a plane most of the night following his draft-board recheck, which maintained his 4-F classification, talked Casey Stengle into letting him play anyway. It was the first time Mantle had ever been in Brooklyn. The experience may have unnerved him slightly. He brought a gaudy .387 record into town, but failed to hit with that kind of power or authority though he intrigued the 8,782 clients by bashing six homers, two of them into the upper deck, batting right handed in practice against Tommy Henrich."
As noted in the article, only 8,782 fans attended the game. That low turnout, coupled with the fact that the program was issued for an exhibition game, and therefore would not have been saved by most fans, almost certainly explains its extreme rarity today. This is the first example of this significant 1951 program we have ever seen and we cannot imagine that many others exist. The program (6.5 x 10 inches) displays a few areas of light foxing. The handwritten blue-ink notation "April 14, 1951 Yankees 11 Dodgers 5" appears on the cover. In Excellent to Mint condition. The ticket stub (1.25 x 3.5 inches) is affixed to the interior page by means of two pieces of vintage clear tape and is otherwise in Very Good condition. Reserve $300. Estimate (open).
Although the cover to this 18-page program is dated 1950, there is no doubt that it was issued for the April 14, 1951 exhibition game between the Yankees and Brooklyn, as opposed to a 1950 exhibition game. It was a common practice of teams at the time to utilize their supply of leftover programs from the previous year for exhibition games, and that is exactly what the Dodgers did here. The preprinted lineup for the Yankees includes DiMaggio, Berra, and Mize, with Mantle (number "6") listed as a substitute. Robinson, Snider, Reese, and Campanella are listed in the Dodgers lineup. (Mantle wore number "6" only for the first part of the 1951 season.) While Mantle's name and number in the Yankees scorecard clearly date it to 1951, the program is accompanied by a ticket stub from the game, dated April 14, 1951, which has been affixed with tape to the Yankees scorecard section. Also affixed to both scoring sections is a cut newspaper article covering the game, which the Yankees won 11-5 (the program is not scored). The headline to the article reads in part "Mantle Gets 1 Safety in Debut." Much of the article is devoted to Mantle, because he was the star of the Yankees camp that spring. In part: "Mickey Mantle, the nineteen-year-old wizard of spring training, contributed a lone single, knocked in a run with a fielder's choice grounder, and threw out a runner at the plate in his local debut. . . . Mantle, who was up in a plane most of the night following his draft-board recheck, which maintained his 4-F classification, talked Casey Stengle into letting him play anyway. It was the first time Mantle had ever been in Brooklyn. The experience may have unnerved him slightly. He brought a gaudy .387 record into town, but failed to hit with that kind of power or authority though he intrigued the 8,782 clients by bashing six homers, two of them into the upper deck, batting right handed in practice against Tommy Henrich."
As noted in the article, only 8,782 fans attended the game. That low turnout, coupled with the fact that the program was issued for an exhibition game, and therefore would not have been saved by most fans, almost certainly explains its extreme rarity today. This is the first example of this significant 1951 program we have ever seen and we cannot imagine that many others exist. The program (6.5 x 10 inches) displays a few areas of light foxing. The handwritten blue-ink notation "April 14, 1951 Yankees 11 Dodgers 5" appears on the cover. In Excellent to Mint condition. The ticket stub (1.25 x 3.5 inches) is affixed to the interior page by means of two pieces of vintage clear tape and is otherwise in Very Good condition. Reserve $300. Estimate (open).