DENVER — It’s known as the Holy Grail of post-World War II baseball cards. For the upcoming All-Star Game in Denver, a gem-mint 1952 Topps card of Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle made a grand entrance.
The first Topps card of the New York Yankees outfielder is part of the Hall of Legends exhibit at Denver’s Rally Hotel at McGregor Square, KUSA reported. Normally, the card is kept in a bank vault, but on Saturday it was taken to the hotel in an armored car that was guarded by 15 Denver police officers, the television station reported.
The exhibit, located across the street from Coors Field, opened Saturday morning ahead of Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic, which was moved to the Mile High City from Atlanta in April.
Who would have thought a piece of cardboard needed this much security....
— Kelly Reinke (@KellyReinkeTV) July 11, 2021
A PSA gem mint 10 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card is valued at more than $10 million. It's is the most sought-after baseball card. Now on display in Denver for All-Star Week. #9News (Video: @Rockies) pic.twitter.com/tlojeWuPLo
The decision to move the game west was made after voting restrictions were passed by the Georgia Legislature and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, according to The Associated Press.
The Mantle card will be on display through Tuesday, according to The Gazette of Colorado Springs.
“While the finest players are in town, we wanted to offer a rare glimpse at the finest moments in baseball history,” John Eding of History Colorado told the newspaper.
>> MLB All-Star Game, draft moved from Atlanta
The Mantle card is owned by Denver attorney Marshall Fogel, KDVR reported. Fogel, a private collector, has owned the card since 1996, KUSA reported.
The 1952 Mantle is graded 10 out of 10 by Professional Sports Authenticator, a California-based memorabilia card. Only three cards out of the 1,779 submitted to PSA have been graded gem mint.
Brian Drent, president of the Colorado-based Mile High Card Company, said the armored escort for the Mantle card was appropriate because it was the best of the three gem mint cards.
“I’m telling you, the president of the United States wouldn’t have gotten that,” Drent told The Gazette.
In January, a 1952 Topps card of Mantle became the highest selling card of all time. The card, graded 9 out of 10 by PSA, was bought for $5.2 million by actor Rob Gough.
>> Record price: 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card sells for $5.2M
Baseball historian Jason Hanson, the chief creative officer at History Colorado, organized the Hall of Legends exhibit. He and Fogel met the armored car outside the hotel. The card, in a black box, was set on a cart that Hanson wheeled through the hotel and put in a display case, KUSA reported.se.
The display case is the same one that housed President Thomas Jefferson’s Bible and the inkwell that Gens. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant used to sign the surrender at Appomattox when those items came through Denver, Hanson told the television station.
“We thought it was the right case to put this card in,” Hanson told KUSA.
Fogel said he was honored to be a part of the exhibit.
“People love baseball,” Fogel told the television station. “People love the game.”
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