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Double Play! Two Friends Sell Vintage Collections with Mantle, Red Man Tobacco, & More

Gorgeous 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle Was Saved from Flipping Cards 68 Years Ago!

September 18, 2024

Double Play! Two long-time friends brought their childhood card collections to Just Collect for a free appraisal. Saved from a game of neighborhood flipping is a stunning 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle, multiple 1953 Red Man Tobacco cards with Tabs, and much more!

A pair of long-time friends took a road trip together to our Just Collect office here in Summit, NJ. In-tote was both of their childhood card collections. After giving Larry and Bruce our , both chose us to sell their collections to - a Double Play! Together, the gentlemen had cards of iconic baseball players such as Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, and more!

THE DOUBLE PLAY COLLECTION

Bruce and Larry began collection cards in the 1950's and 1960's. Back then, a pack of baseball cards set you back a cool nickel. With five cents, you could purchase a pack of Topps baseball cards and a stick of gum. Remember when you found gum inside of a pack? The friends picked up odd jobs as kids like cutting grass, returning milk bottles, and even saving their tooth fairy money-all in an effort to help them buy more wax packs from their local stores! Larry even left his school during recess to buy packs of cards, rushed back to school, and opened them up right there. My how times have changed! Not only do we not return milk bottles but imagine kids sneaking away at recess without a teacher noticing here in 2024!

On the playground at recess is where Larry picked up the game of FLIPPING. Cards were placed standing up along a wall or edge such as a street curb. One card was then "flipped' or thrown at the cards to knock down the cards standing up until one card is standing. The owner of the last card standing takes ALL the cards! Of course, Larry didn't want to use his best cards as the "thrower." Thankfully, Larry liked Mickey Mantle. A three-time MVP, a seven-time World Series champion, and one of the best players in all of baseball, The Mick is one of the best cards Larry saved all of these years later.

You can see all of the cards Bruce and Larry bought many years ago with their odd job money and won during games of flip. The first slide show has Bruce's cards, and the second slide show is of Larry's collection.

In the first slide show, Bruce's cards, you start off with multiple cards of Mickey Mantle including those from 1965, 1966, and 1967 Topps sets. Below Mantle are 1960's cards of Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. What a trio of stars in one picture! As you scroll through the photos of Bruce's cards, you'll find more star cards from 1960's Topps sets. The second photo is filled with Roberto Clemente cards followed by cards of perhaps the greatest pitcher of all-time in Sandy Koufax, MLB hit record holder, Pete Rose in the third photo. The next photo has rookie cards of Hall of Famers Steve Carlton and Joe Morgan. More stars catch your eyes in the final photo including three rookie cards of Jim Palmer.

Larry's collection can be seen the second slide show. 1953 Red Man Tobacco cards! The first two photos you see in our slide show are cards we aren't able to frequently purchase; we're very excited that Larry collected these cards! In total, 52 cards were included in the set and each measure 3.5" x 4." These cards were sealed in plastic and attached to pouches of Tobacco. Finding these cards in any condition isn't an easy task given the cards were on the OUTISDE of a pack of tobacco. Imagine how often the packs were just tossed around in the store, in a car, at a home, or on a job. Only around 4,600 cards have been graded by PSA, one of the top professional grading companies, according to their population report. FOUR cards of Hall of Famer, Stan Musial are in the first photo. Only about 140 of these Stan Musical 1953 Red Man Tobacco cards have been graded by PSA, and now we have four here in the Double Play Collection. You can also see stars Pee Wee Reese, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, and other greats in the first two photos from the Red Man set. How good was Stan Musial? Overlooked when compared to a Mickey Mantle or Hank Aaron, but Musial made 24 All-Star teams, won three MVP awards, and SEVEN batting titles in his illustrious career. In the third photo of the slide show below, you can see a few 1956 Topps baseball cards including a stellar copy of Mantle. THIS is the Mickey Mantle card Larry didn't want to use in his games of flip! The Mickey Mantle is flanked by a pair of Jackie Robinson cards, too! The next to photos showing Larry's cards are stars from the 1957 Topps and 1958 Topps baseball sets. Names like Ted Williams, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays jump off the page. In the 1958 Topps cards, you can see a Roger Maris rookie card! While Maris is known as a New York Yankee, he began his career as a Clevland Indian. Moving a picture over are a few cards from the 1955 All-America football set. Jim Thorpe steal the show in this picture. Thorpe played professional football in the NFL from 1920-1928, professional baseball in MLB from 1913-1919, and won the Olympic gold medal in both the Pentathlon and Decathlon in 1912.

Here is a slide show of Bruce's cards from the Double Play Collection:

Here is a slide show of Larry's cards from the Double Play Collection:

APPRAISAL AND PURCHASE

Larry found our Just Collect site during a Google search. Initially, Bruce went to a local card store. Your local card shop is generally not well equipped to appraise or purchase vintage collections like this. The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. This is where we are happy to help you. With decades of experience handling and purchasing collections, I take the time to treat your collection with the care it deserves. Bruce wanted a second opinion on his collection, and chose Just Collect. Did you notice the last photo in our slide show, Bruce did his homework! Understanding the grades and condition of his cards, he was ready to sit down and talk with me and our Vice President, John. Bruce heard about Larry wanting to sell his collection cards and tagged along for the ride with his own collection! Bruce wasn't a collector but held onto his childhood collection. Bruce wanted to do something responsible with the cards rather them sitting and collecting dust.

Leighton reviewed each card in both collections and then created a spreadsheet with the amount the card is worth at a retail price, and a fair offer Just Collect would pay for the cards. BOTH Bruce and Larry accepted the offer and were each paid via company check right at our office. When you choose to sell your collection to Just Collect, we pay you how you want to be paid whether that be cash, check, or wire transfer.

While Larry and Bruce hit the road to visit us, we have many ways to evaluate and purchase your collection! Recently, I traveled near Boston, MA. to purchase a collection of 1909-1911 T206 tobacco cards, a trip with my 9-year-old son! You can see that collection HERE. You could SHIP your cards to Just Collect with our two-day, fully insured FedEx account as well just like David did with his 1952 Topps Willie Mays card you can read about HERE. We'd love to meet you at a convention as well! Our booth is always open to you! Later in September, we'll be buying and selling collections at The Philly Show; you can see all the details HERE.

If you're curious about our buying process, check out this behind-the-scenes video below with Bruce and Larry! Each sit down with Leighton to discuss their stories, the collections, and how Just Collect proudly purchased The Double Play Collection:

Thank you, Larry and Bruce, for choosing Just Collect to purchase your collections! No hard feelings for you being Phillies and Eagles fans.

WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.

We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:

We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.

Travel to Us

If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.

Come to convention

We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.

Meet in-person

If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.

Meet in New York City

If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; read all the information here.

SHIP your collection

If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!

Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.