The Incredible Value of the 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle Baseball Card 1
It’s considered the most iconic post-War baseball card in the hobby yet it’s also commonly mistaken as his rookie card.
That’s right, the 1952 Topps #311 card is actually not Mickey Mantle’s rookie card.
That distinction would belong to the 1951 Bowman #253 card.
But even though that one is Mickey Mantle’s true rookie card, it’s actually his 1952 Topps #311 that is the more valuable of the two.
And as you might often expect, Mantle is a rare case where a player’s rookie card isn’t his most valuable.
So, why is that?
Well, the story is actually quite fascinating.
Topps has been the biggest name in sports cards since 1952 when they released their first official baseball card set.
And that’s the first of several factors that make’s Mantle’s 1952 Topps card so valuable: he was the most popular player in the industry juggernaut’s first set. This immediately sends the card’s historical value through the roof. Even common cards of this set can fetch hundreds of dollars in top condition.
The second reason for its high value is because it’s way scarcer that you might expect.
To understand how scarce it is, you’ve got to remember that Topps and other manufacturers released baseball cards in multiple series. At the beginning of the 1952 baseball season, kids were chasing cards in Series 1, tearing through the 5 cent packs in search of their heroes. But Mantle was nowhere to be found. Series 1 only included cards #1-310, and Topps had earmarked Mantle to be card #311.