Great collection of mostly programs with some score cards and tickets sourcing from a huge Mantle fan who went to each of these games and scored the cards himself. The first program starts in 1951 and then at least one from every year from 1953-68. What makes the 1951 even more special than a Mantle first year program is the fact that it's signed on the cover by Mantle & DiMaggio in perfect 10/10 ink. Other program highlights include 1957 Opening Day, (6) Mickey Mantle HR game programs: May 1, 1956, August 2, 1959, September 19, 1964 program & stub (2,000th hit & 450th HR), July 24, 1966, April 26, 1968 with stub, June 29, 1968, (4) Roger Maris HR game programs: July 4, 1961, June 27, 1962 (signed by Linz, Skowron, Boyer, Gardner), June 30, 1963, June 26, 1966. There is also a Mickey Mantle HR #529 ticket stub. Programs are intact and some score cards are removed from the programs. Overall EX. Comes from the incredible collection of over 300+ signed Mantle photographs, bats, jerseys, cards and more from a true die-hard Mantle super-collector.
My father Ed Kubina began going to card shows for autographs in the mid to late 1970s.
The first one I remember was at Hofstra University in Long Island, NY, where Mickey
Mantle was signing. My father brought my entire Girl Scout troop, paying their way, and
gave them pictures for Mickey Mantle to sign. He told them if Mr. Mantle asked them
who to personalize it to, tell him to sign “To Ed”. After eighteen Girl Scouts and I went
through the line, Mickey looked up at my Dad when he finally made it through and said,
“Hi Ed”.
Over the years we went to every card show Mickey signed at in the Northeast. These
were our family vacations. My dad went to well over 100 shows through the years in his
quest for the signatures of players like Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Billy Martin, and Whitey Ford. We also went to Induction Weekend
at Cooperstown every year beginning in the 1980s. This is where we met and got autographs from Roger Maris along with dozens of
other retired players.
After Mickey Mantle’s death, my dad took a trip with my brother to Commerce, Oklahoma, where Mickey Mantle was born, and took
pictures. He even took a small piece off the side of the barn wall that Mantle used to practice hitting balls against when growing up.
That was obsessive.
- Deirdre Leary, November 2018