1968 Topps Mickey Mantle

The 1968 Topps Mickey Mantle #280 card features “The Mick” in a batting stance about to swing a baseball bat. He is wearing a New York Yankees ball cap along with the pinstripes that the Yankees are famous for. The front of the card has a tan border that almost resembles the wood grain look that was so popular in 1962. Mantle’s first name is in black letters and his last name is in red letters near the bottom of the card. There is also a red circle in the lower right hand corner which has the team name and position in it. I believe this is the first time that Mickey is listed as a first baseman. The back of the card shows all of Mickey’s career stats against a yellow background. It also states that Mickey holds a World Series mark of 18 homers. The 1968 Topps cards is Mick’s next to last card.

Although 1968 was the last year that he played, Topps had already produced the cards for 1969 in the latter part of 1968 and decided to go ahead with production and release his last base card in 1969. As a tribute to “The Mick”, Topps officially retired card #7 in sets from 1997 through 2005 by omitting card #7 from the set. In 2006, Topps decided to produce a #7 Mickey Mantle card in its base set and has continued to do this every year since that time.