Willie Mays Baseball Cards

Willie Mays baseball cards are some of the most desired in the hobby.  During the decades of the 1950’s and 1960’s - Willie Mays was arguably the best player in the game or at least in the NL. (Please see Mickey Mantle)

Willie Mays was first 30 HR/30 SB guy and also the first career 300HR/300SB guy.  Not only was Willie the first real five tool player, he could probably do each of the five skills better than anyone else in the game - except for maybe Mantle.

During his playing days Willie Mays was quite popular with the fans.  My clearest memory of Willie Mays was of him playing in the 1973 post season for the Mets.  The Mets beat my Reds in 5 games to go to the World Series.  By that time, Mays’ skills were about gone, but he was still fun to watch and actually had a very respectable post-season.

The thing that I always liked about Willie Mays baseball cards was that he was one of the few super stars that did not sign an exclusive contract and had both Bowman and Topps Baseball cards from 1952 to 1955.  I am not sure how Willie managed that and have never really heard any stories about it.

Willie Mays cards in nice condition are often tough to find.  The only reason that I can think of that makes his cards so condition sensitive, is that he was so popular with the kids when the cards were issued.  It seemed that everyone wanted to handle his card.

Willie's Real Autograph

Two of the toughest Willie Mays cards to find in nice condition are his Topps cards from 1966 and 1970.  The 1966 Topps #1 Willie Mays baseball card is tough to find because it is the first card in the series.  We build a lot of 1970 Topps sets and it seems that we are always looking for the 1970 Topps #660 Willie Mays baseball card.



Our boyhood heroes usually live past their glory years and we get a chance to see what kind of people they really are - good or bad.  Willie Mays has attended many sports shows over the years and the reviews from dealers and fans have not been the best. I have never been at a show that he attended, but he has a reputation as a grumpy signer of autographs.

I am truly glad that I do not have any negative personal experiences with Mays, so I can  remember him for what he did on the field.   My hope is  that history will also remember him more for his over the shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series than for his autograph appearances.  My fear is that this will not be the case, as history has not been kind to many of the great players of the game.  Only time will tell.

Willie's Wife's Autograph

Be very careful when buying Willie Mays autographs.  Back in the day, he had his wife sign quite a few of his and baseballs. If you have a very clear and readable autograph, the chances are that she signed it.  Willie's true autograph is often a mess.

Dean’s Cards has just acquired two very nice Willie Mays cards that we are now offering for sale.  We have a 1952 Topps Willie Mays PSA 5 and 1952 Topps Willie Mays PSA 7.5 .  This is best example that I have ever seen of this card.

PSA 7 Mickey Mantle Baseball Cards

Mickey Mantle Baseball Cards are most popular among any of the post-war cards that Topps ever produced.  It has now been over 40 years since Mickey retired and his cards show no signs of slowing down in popularity.



Dean's Cards is featuring a collection of PSA 7 Mickey Mantle from 1959 to 1968. Mickey’s cards are always difficult to find in pristine condition because his cards were always the ones that the kids liked to handle and show their friends.

The 1959 Topps Mantle card has the most value of this group and is extremely rare in this condition. Please also notice the latitude that PSA allowed for the wood grain borders of the 1962 Topps Mantle card.  I have  seen PSA do this before, but here at Dean’s Cards, we do not grade that lax.

These cards are all online and ready to buy.  Please click on the image to see the card. Enjoy the scans!

Ted Williams Baseball Cards

Ted Williams baseball cards are some of the most sought after cards in the hobby.  Since Dean’s Cards is featuring the 1939 Play Ball set break that includes the Ted Williams Rookie Card this week, it is an ideal time for Ted to be our Player of the Week.

Williams was the best pure hitter in the American League for both the decades of the 1940’s and 1950’s.  He was an American Hero that took almost five seasons off to fight in two wars.  If Ted did not take time off to be a fighter pilot, he could have possibly broken Babe Ruth’s All-Time Home Run record.

Ted Williams is often compared to Joe Dimaggio as the most popular players of their day.  That debate will never end, but in terms of the most popular in terms of collectors, the nod has to go to Williams because he played nine years after Joe D retired and had many more cards than the Yankee Clipper.  Joe DiMaggio was never featured on a contemporary Bowman or Topps Card.

Ted Williams has to be the only player to have contemporary cards issued by Play Ball, Bowman, Topps and Fleer.  Williams really seemed to know how to work the card companies for the most money possible.

The 1939 Play Ball #92 Ted Williams Rookie Card is a fresh change for many of the portrait shots of that particular set.  The 1940 Play Ball and 1941 Play Ball Ted Williams cards are case in point.

Williams signed with Bowman in 1950.  The 1950 Bowman and 1951 Bowman Ted Williams baseball cards are nice looking – although similar cards.  Ted was in Korea and did not have cards issued in 1952 or 1953.  Ted Williams reprint cards are available for 1939 Play Ball, 1940 Play Ball, 1941 Play Ball, 1950 Bowman and 1951 Bowman.

The 1954 Bowman #66 Ted Williams card is his most valuable card.  Due to a contract dispute, the card was pulled and very few were printed.  Ted had jumped to Topps in 1954 for the big bucks and is featured on both the first and last cards of the 1954 Topps set.  Years later, Williams was one of the few players to not give permission for his card to be reprinted in the 1954 Topps Reprint Set.

Williams remained with Topps through 1958, until he jumped to Fleer in 1959 to have an entire set of cards printed about his life story.  1959 Fleer #68 "Ted Signs for 1959" is the most expensive card of the set due to being pulled from production, because Bucky Harris did not want Fleer using his image.

Be careful when buying this 1959 Fleer #68 card as it was heavily counterfeited back in the 1970’s.  Dean’s Cards has seen quite a few 1959 Fleer sets where the seller was unaware that his #68 was a fake!  A counterfeit card #68 looks whiter than other 1959 Fleer cards when placed in the stack, has a thicker paper stock and somewhat of a checker board pattern on the front of the card.

Ted's last Topps cards feature him as the Senators manager from 1969 to 1972.

Mickey Mantle Baseball Cards

Mickey Mantle baseball cards are in more demand than cards from any other player from the post-war vintage era.  Part of the reason was that the New York Yankees were in 14 of the 16 World Series between 1949 and 1964.  This dominance will probably never be matched.  Much of the reason the Yankees were post season regulars every year was because of Mantle.

Mickey’s Rookie card is officially from 1951 Bowman, but the 1952 Topps card is the most famous and has book value of $20,000!  If you can not afford those, you may want to consider some of his reprint cards.  They are very popular with collectors.

Mantle had an exclusive contract with the Bowman Gum Company in 1954 and 1955, so he has no Topps cards for those years.  1956 and 1957 are some of Mantle’s best looking Topps cards, then for some reason Topps decided to issue a run of Mickey Mantle portrait shots from 1958 to 1963.

Mickey Mantle Overstock Sale!

As the vintage set of the week is the 1959 Topps baseball card set, we might as well feature the key card in the set #10 Mickey Mantle.  This is one of the most popular of Mantle cards with a Beckett Book Value of $1000.  Although, cards of “The Mick” are always in demand, we currently have 9 of the 1959 Topps #10 in “Very Good” condition.  We have marked this card down another $50, so with your discount – you can buy this card for $225!

Dean with the 1959 and 1964 Topps Giants Mantles

We also marked down the 1964 Topps Giants Mickey Mantle card in “Near Mint” Condition and #487 1958 Topps Mickey Mantle All Star card in "Excellent" .  The 1958 card was a “triple print”.  Dean’s Cards currently has 13 of the 1964 Topps Giants and 15 of the 1958 Mantle All-Star cards in stock, so we can afford to offer a very nice savings for the holidays. These two cards give the budget collector a chance to own an original Mickey Mantle in nice condition for under $100.  The cards will return to regular prices at the end of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving from Dean’s Cards.

Johnny Bench Baseball Cards

Johnny Bench was the greatest catcher of the 1970's and possibly of all-time. When you look back, Bench was the best hitting, best fielding, best running, best throwing and hit with the most power for his position for the entire decade.  How many players can you think of that dominated any position like that?  Bench gets my vote for the MVP of the 1970's.  I would love to hear your comments.

As far as the  Johnny Bench Rookie Card from 1968 goes, it leaves much to be desired, but was typical of cards from that era. Not that I have anything against Ron Tompkins, but it is hard for collectors to get excited about this card.

I think that Johnny Bench baseball cards are one of the best bargains - when you consider how great of a player that he was.  Bench is not as popular of a person as many stars and seems to be overshadowed by the personalities of Pete Rose, Tony Perez and Joe Morgan.

The 1969 Topps, 1970 Topps and 1975 Topps cards of Johnny Bench are nice posed catcher position shots. The 1969 Topps Bench Card photo was taken in spring training one year before he made the team and shows him wearing #55.  Also be sure to check out the action shots in the 1972 through 1974 years at Dean's Cards. Bench may have the best Topps Baseball Cards of anyone of the decade. His cards in the 1980’s were fairly boring portraits.

To see Dean’s Cards inventory of Johnny Bench Baseball Cards and Magazines, please click here.

Double X - Jimmie Foxx

When I was writing the article for this week’s featured baseball card set 1933 Goudey, I did a little research to see who won the MVP for 1933.  I was guessing Ruth or Gehrig.  I was mistaken.

Jimmie Foxx won the MVP award in 1932 by hitting .364, 58 HR and 169 RBI’s.  In 1933, Foxx’s number slumped to .356, 48 HR and only 163 RBI’s.  This was good enough to win the Triple Crown and another MVP award.

Jimmie Foxx was discovered in High School by Frank "Home Run" Baker.  Baker was manager for the Class D Easton team and he signed Foxx in 1924. As the story goes, Baker owed his old manager, Connie Mack, a favor and told Mack about Foxx.   In 1925, Foxx came to the Athletics as 17 year old Catcher.  The A’s already had a Hall-of-Famer at that position in Mickey Cochrane, so Foxx spent the first 3 years sitting on the bench next to the Old Professor.  Jimmie finally got a real chance to play in 1928 and in 1929. Connie Mack installed Foxx at 1B and the Athletics won the AL Pennant for the next 3 years.

Mr. Mack had to eventually sell off his great players due the depression and Foxx soon was sent the Boston Red Sox.

Dean's Cards currently has quite a few Jimmie Foxx cards in stock.  Some originals and a full supply of reprints.  Either way, they are all fun to look at.

Dave Concepcion – Best Shortstop of the 1970’s

The biggest injustice of the Hall of Fame is that they refuse to allow the great shortstops of the 1960's and 1970's through the door.   The only exceptions are Luis Aparicio and Robin Yount.  The Dean's Cards player of the Week is Dave Concepcion who played in four World Series and was named to the All-Star Game 9 times between 1973 and 1982. 

The Hall-of-Fame selection committee prefers the hard hitting first basemen and outfielders to the slick fielding infielders – but the saying goes “you can not win a pennant unless you are strong up the middle”.  As much as I like Concepcion’s old road game roommate and Hall-of-Famer Tony Perez – Concepcion would have been much harder for the Reds to replace than Perez.  In fact, the Reds had Danny Dreissen waiting in the wings for four years until they decided to trade Perez for a couple journeyman pitchers.

Shouldn’t there be at least one shortstop in the Hall of Fame for every 1B or every LF?  OK, I realize that hitters are more exciting. What about just one SS for every three 1B?  If that were the case you would see guys like Jim Fregosi, Maury Wills, Don Kessinger, Larry Bowa, Bert Campaneris and Davy Concepcion elected.  They were the best at their position during their time.

The first game that I ever attended was at Crosley Field on April 16, 1970.  My parents took me to the game as the Reds were going to move to the new stadium after the All-Star game that year.  The Reds beat the Dodgers 12 to 2.  Nineteen year-old Rookie Don Gullett relieved (soon to be retired) Jim Maloney for the first win of Gullett’s career.  Gullett also had a triple and a stolen base.  Concepcion went 0 for 4.

I was 5 years old at the time and did not notice any of those things.  What I do remember is that about a dozen Reds signed my glove.  At Crosley Field, the players had to walk past the fans to get from the clubhouse to the dugout.  With only 6100 people in the park that night, almost all of the players stopped to sign my glove.  You just do not see that anymore.

Concepcion was a 21 years old rookie who would start his 7th major league game that night.  Dave was so tall and skinny (6'2", 155 pounds) that he towered over me.  He handed me his "super sized" Coke through the green wrought iron fence that separated the fans from the players- which I needed both hands to hold - while he signed my mitt.   I was a bit surprised when I had to return the Coke to him because I assumed it was a gift!  My mother later told me that she was afraid that I would spill the Coke all down Concepcion’s bright white uniform.

Davy was very nice, but could not speak a word of English. At just 5 years old, I had never met someone who didn't speak English and I remember being worried for him because he could not communicate with other people to get food or find his way around.  My parents reassured me that the other Spanish speaking players on the team would help take care of him.  This is how I will always remember Dave Concepcion.

It is doubtful that many more of the great shortstops of the 1960's and 1970's will make the Hall-of-Fame anytime soon, especially since the shortstops in today’s game now routinely hit 25 HR’s and bat .300 each year.

Babe Ruth

The Dean’s Cards player of this week is Babe Ruth.  The occasion is that we have just listed so many great Babe Ruth cards and I wanted to talk about them before they sold.  The reprint cards of the Babe are also very popular.

The Babe loved to play golf and had a five handicap.  The story goes that he could hit the ball 300 yards with the old fashioned wood drivers and had a terrible short game.

My favorite Babe Ruth Story was told by Billy Werber, who died this year at 100 years of age.  Werber tells the story of regularly playing bridge with Bill Dickey against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on a train rides between cites as a rookie.  The Babe would light a cigar and get a big glass of ice filled to the top with Canadian Whiskey.

According to Werber, he and Dickey were much smarter than Ruth and Gehrig (which is very believable) and beat them regularly – often winning $3 or $4 a night.  Ruth would regularly "false bid" his hands (often to get a rise out of Gehrig) and Gehrig would become mad and throw down the cards.  Werber also added that he liked Ruth a lot and did not care very much for Gehrig.

Please add any good Babe Ruth Stories that you may have.  I would love to hear them.

Also please check out the obscure reprint cards that we have of the Babe.  I rarely see these cards as originals.

Rickey Henderson - The Man of Steal

Rickey Henderson is the first guy featured in Dean’s Cards "Player of the Week".   He was not the easiest player to like when he was on the other team because he was such a hot dog. 

The only game that I recall seeing Henderson play (although there must have been more) was a one game playoff in 1999, where the Mets killed my hometown Reds 5-0.  Al Leiter 2-hit the Reds and a sellout crowd was forced to sit in the sweltering heat and watch a terribly boring game.

The highlight of the night was when several drunk fans jumped onto the field and would run the bases.  The cops would chase them every time and try to prevent them from "scoring".  It happened 2 or 3 times during the night and was the only comic relief that the Reds fans had.

Henderson would swipe catch the pop flies that were hit to him in left field and then slap the glove on his leg.  It was like rubbing salt in the wound of the disappointed fans and we would boo every catch.  Rickey seemed to enjoy the attention and capped off his performance by hitting a dinger.  That is how I remember Rickey.

That said, Henderson was the best lead-off player ever.  Rickey had some great cards and his career spanned many teams.  Congratulations Rick.

Below are the top five candidates for the best Rickey Henderson card.  (His rookie card is disqualified, because that would be too easy of a pick.)

Click Here to see all of Rickey's Cards

Please cast your vote.