Mantle Road Jersey From 1952-53 World Series In Heritage Auctions Sale Traveled Long Road

A road jersey worn by Mickey Mantle during the World Series in 1952 and ’53 will find a home soon in Heritage Auctions’ upcoming Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction — but what a road it has traveled.

Worn by Mantle at Ebbets Field during Game 7 of the 1952 Fall Classic and again during Game 5 of the ’53 Series, the gray flannel No. 7 of the Mick was the prized possession of a boy who bought it while living at a children’s orphanage in North Carolina. It remained in Bob Payne’s possession for nearly four decades, even weathering a flood at his Georgia home during the mid-1960s.

The jersey will sell for much more when the Heritage sale, which runs from Aug. 23-25, comes to an end. With two weeks to go, bidding has already reached $1.35 million before a buyer’s premium is added — bringing the current bid to $1.62 million. According to Heritage, it is the earliest photo-matched Mantle jersey ever to go to auction.

It is a far cry from the $2.50 Payne invested in the spring of 1955, and much more than what it fetched when he finally parted with the jersey in 1993.

To quote the Grateful Dead, what a long, strange trip it’s been.

Authenticating the jersey

MeiGray matched the jersey to a photograph taken after the Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-2 on Oct. 7, 1952. Mantle had hit a solo home run in the sixth inning off Joe Black to snap a 2-2 tie. Mantle would add an RBI single in the seventh to give the Yankees a two-run cushion.

The game was also famous for Billy Martin’s lunging catch near the pitcher’s mound of a pop fly by Jackie Robinson in the seventh inning with two outs and the bases loaded. That preserved the lead and helped the Yankees to their fourth consecutive World Series title.

A Getty Images photograph showed Mantle celebrating in the visitors’ clubhouse at Ebbets Field; according to Heritage, the distinct grain of the flannel and the absence of the Yankees’ Golden Anniversary patch on the slugger’s left sleeve — worn during the regular season, but not during the World Series — helped MeiGray match the photo to the jersey currently for sale.

Heritage added that Mantle wore the same jersey during Game 5 of the 1953 World Series. The game, again played at Ebbets Field, saw the Yankees defeat the Dodgers 11-7 to take a 3-2 series lead. Mantle’s grand slam in the top of the third capped a five-run inning for New York and snapped a 1-1 tie.

Again, MeiGray was able to match a Getty Images photograph of Mantle celebrating in the locker room.

MeiGray also photo matched the jersey to spring training in 1954.

Working to buy the jersey

During the spring of 1955, the Yankees shipped a crate from their spring training facility in St. Petersburg, Florida, to the Methodist Children’s Home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Payne, who was 17 at the time, was a resident at the orphanage and helped open the crate, which contained the jerseys of Mantle, Martin, Yogi Berra, Johnny Sain, Allie Reynolds, Phil Rizzuto, Jerry Coleman and manager Casey Stengel.

Mickey Mantle holds up four fingers to show the Yankees have taken four games to win the World Series after Game 7 on October 7, 1952, against the Brooklyn Dodgers. (Olen Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images)

Payne was a big Mantle fan, but his friend, Bob Hancock, had already grabbed the Mick’s jersey. But Payne was resourceful, convincing his friend to sell him the jersey for $2.50. Since children at the home were paid a monthly honorarium of $1.25, Payne needed only two months to complete the deal with Hancock, who was a Dodgers fan.

In a 1993 interview, Payne told columnist Ed Grisamore of The Macon Telegraph that he considered the transaction “more blackmail than a sale.”

Payne said he tried on the size 44 jersey for the only time the day he bought it at the home, adding that “three of us could have fit in it.”

“It was the eeriest feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” Payne told the Telegraph. “It’s like trying to explain what a raw oyster tastes like.

“When I had it on, I felt like I was invading the man’s property because I idolized him so much.”

Payne kept the jersey close over the next 34 years, even after joining the Air Force in 1959. He was stationed in Warner Robins and spent 11 years in military service. After that, he remained in Georgia and opened a business restoring Corvettes.

In 1966, Payne nearly lost the jersey when his home in Warner Robins was damaged by a flood.

“We lost almost everything,” Payne told the Telegraph. “I figured the shirt would go with everything else.

“But somehow it survived.”

Payne took the jersey to a local dry cleaner, who removed the red clay stains. He remained blissfully unaware that the jersey could be valuable.

“My ex-wife says she remembers moving it around and hanging it here and hanging it there just like another shirt on the rack,” Payne told the Telegraph. “It meant something to me, but I didn’t really understand the value of it.”

‘Like finding the Hope Diamond in your attic’

Then he learned in 1979 that a torn Mantle jersey, discovered in a storage area when Yankee Stadium was being renovated during the mid-1970s, was sold for $33,000 in an auction.

According to a 1993 story in the Winston-Salem Journal, it was like “finding the Hope Diamond in your attic.”

At that point, Payne put the jersey in a safety deposit box.

While trying to gauge the worth of the jersey, Payne contacted several auction houses but became disgruntled.

“I found that all anyone wanted was a cut of the money,” Payne told the newspaper. “It made me angry.”

*Bob Payne shows off the Mickey Mantle road jersey he owned for nearly four decades. (Macon Telegraph photo)*

Payne told the Telegraph that he “felt dirty” talking to some potential investors.

“There was one from New York who really got to me,” he told the newspaper. “I didn’t care if he had $5 million in his pocket, he wasn’t going to get that shirt.”

The jersey sold for $40,000 at the National in 1993, according to Heritage Auctions.

There is a line from the 1993 film, A Bronx Tale, where Sonny (Chazz Palminteri) tells a young Calogero Anello (Francis Capra) that “Mickey Mantle don’t care about you, so why should you care about him?”

Sometimes, Mantle cared. And even showed a sense of humor.

Payne said he had an encounter with Mantle at the slugger’s New York City restaurant, and the Hall of Famer autographed a photograph that showed the fan holding his long-cherished jersey.

“I was wearing an old pair of jeans,” Payne told the Journal. “Mantle wrote ‘I know how old the jersey is, but how old are those jeans?’”

About Bob D'Angelo

Bob has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 45 years and a blogger for two decades. He is celebrating his 60th year of card collecting, and still counts his 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle as his favorite. You can reach him at [email protected].