In June of 1965, Yankees management feared that Mickey Mantle was at the end of his playing days so they announced that September 18 would be “Mickey Mantle Day” at Yankee Stadium. At that time, only four other Yankees had received such an honor. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra.
The game that day was between the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. Right-hander, Joe Sparma was on the mound for the Tigers. When Mickey stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, with two outs, he received an ear-splitting ovation. Sparma, then did something unprecedented in Major League Baseball – he stepped off the mound, walked to home plate, and shook Mickey’s hand in open admiration. He walked back to the mound and the game continued.
From that fine day comes this extremely rare 1965 Mickey Mantle Day Yankee Stadium ticket and program. Rarely seen, this scarce ticket stub has a little back damage from previous display but the front remains undamaged; program is VG.