Mickey Mantle and his fellow New York Yankee Hall of Fame slugging outfielder, Babe Ruth, had much in common, including fantastic batting power and marvelous handwriting. Offered is a one-of-a-kind item: a display of 99 Mickey Mantle signatures, plus a small bit of signed Mantle improvisation. The autograph sheet was a gift from Mantle to our consignor during his time signing for Sports Impressions, a statue company that produced MLB, NBA, and NFL-licensed products in the 1980s-90s. The autograph sheet itself measures 14" x 20" and is a cardstock material. The frame measures 20" x 24" and displays this piece beautifully. Babe Ruth, a natural left-hander, was converted to writing right-handed when he attended the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore. He certainly learned well, as his signature exhibits classic penmanship. Mantle had no such formal instruction of which we know, but when he was a youth, he had a job in a mining office in his native Oklahoma, and when he had free time there, he would endlessly practice his signature on yellow legal pads. The practice paid off as Mantle, using his natural right hand, perfected a beautifully written signature. Did Mantle foresee how his 536 home runs, a still a record for a switch-hitter, his 1961 chase with Roger Maris of Ruth's single-season homer record, his seven World Championships with the Yankees, and his three AL MVP Awards would give him immense fame and with it, a never-ending immense demand for his signature? When his fame came, Mickey was well-prepared to craft wondrous signatures, almost works of art. The whole autographed sheet has been perforated into still-attached segments, each measuring 1x3". Using a fine tip black marker, Mantle, in his big and bold, exquisitely crafted signature, signed 99 of the segments. On the 47th segment, Mantle wrote a change-up. Instead of his signature, Mantle wrote, "These pens suck." Then he signed 53 more segments, still as neatly scripted as ever. Mantle was a perfectionist about his signature and despite his protestations about the quality of his pen, his signatures are absolutely gorgeous.