I Can't Believe that Play!

How many times have you heard sports announcers yell, “I can’t believe it!  What a catch!"

Mickey Mantle was a great, great player.  He led the major leagues in WAR in 1955, 1956, and 1957.  His counting stats in 1956 were absurd: 52 home runs, 130 RBIs, and a .353 average, good for the triple crown. He may have been the fastest player in the game, and was among the best defensive outfielders.  You might think that there would be no need to embellish his accomplishments.  I don’t know that he ever did.  Beginning early in the 1956 season, when he was pacing ahead of Ruth's single-season home run record, some in the New York media began to write the myth of Mickey Mantle.  Topps jumped on the bandwagon with its 1956 Mantle card.  What a beauty!  But despite what you see on the card, Mantle did not make the catch.  The action photo was taken in September 1951 and the ball, hit by Eddie Robinson, then with the White Sox, flew over his head for a home run.

Five Guys

Some guys just to the left of Mantle’s cap seem to be mesmerized by something happening away from the play.  Was there a brawl in the upper deck?  Did Marilyn Monroe spend an afternoon at Yankee Stadium, as she did a few times with DiMaggio?  No, Topps moved five guys from the left-hand side of the original photo to the right of the action shot on the card (and left two of them on the left).