Though short-lived, the Independence Yankees helped foster the career of one of the greatest baseball players of all-time: Mickey Mantle. This program from the 1949 season in Independence, Kansas, lists Mantle's position as third base in the team photo. It was the only year Mantle - 17 at the time and fresh out of high school - spent with the team, as he was promoted to Class-C the following year. The front of the program reads "Souvenir Book, The, Independence Yankees, and, K-O-M League, 1949" with K-O-M being an acronym for Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri. Mantle, who that same year called his father during a slump to tell him he wanted to quit baseball, was a native of Oklahoma. The program is in EX+ condition with only some very minor creasing on the cover.