Mickey Mantle is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. From 1951 to 1968, Mantle played his entire career for the New York Yankees and was a 16-time All-Star and a three-time American League MVP. Not only was he one of the premier power hitters and switch hitters in MLB history, but he also played through incredibly painful bone spurs and injuries in his legs and feet to remain an elite player.

Mantle’s incredible baseball career and iconic status with the Yankees has made many of his vintage baseball cards some of the most valuable and sought after on the hobby. Here is a deeper look at some of Mantle’s rarest and most prized baseball cards and what makes them so valuable to collectors today.

One of the holy grail cards for Mantle collectors is his 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card. Only about 50 mint condition copies of this iconic rookie card are known to exist today in a PSA 10 or BGS 9.5-10 grade. At auction, high grade 1952 Topps Mantle rookies have sold for over $2 million, making it one of the most valuable trading cards ever. What makes it so highly desired is that it captures Mantle at the very beginning of his Hall of Fame career and was issued during the very first year of Topps’ hugely popular baseball card era which began in 1952.

Another hugely valuable Mantle card is his 1956 Topps card. The 1956 set is one of the scarcest and most collected vintage Topps issues due to a perfect storm of factors that led to very low print runs. Mantle also happened to be in the middle of his MVP 1956 season when this classic card was released. In high grades like PSA 9 or BGS 9, the 1956 Mantle has sold at auction for over $150,000. What’s particularly rare and special about the 1956 Mantle card specifically is its photo, which captures a smiling Mantle waving to fans in a memorable action shot highly desired by collectors.

For many collectors, one of the most alluring Mantle cards has to be the super scarce 1953 Topps Mantle cardboard proofs in PSA/DNA Mint 9 condition. Topps occasionally produced these oversized “cardboard” proofs as samples for photographers and printers during the early printing process before committing to final paper card production. Only about 25 are known to exist for the entire 1953 Topps set. The 1953 Topps proofs were never intended for public distribution, making each of the 25 proof cards that much more of a prize possession for advanced Mantle collectors. In top grades, 1953 Topps Mantle proofs have sold for upwards of $125,000 due to their extreme rarity and historical significance as some of the first glimpses of Mantle’s rookie card image.

Some other landmark Mantle rookie cards include his very first professional baseball card issued in 1951 by Bowman Gum. This pre-rookie card featured a 19-year-old Mantle in his first season with the Yankees’ farm system and can sell for over $50,000 in high grades. Mantle mania was already in full force by the time Topps issued its 1955 post-rookie issue of the Mickey Mantle card. Only about 10 are known to exist in the elusive PSA/DNA GEM-MT 10 condition, which is the pinnacle grade for vintage cards. At public auction, a pair of 1955 Topps Mantle GEM-MT 10s sold for a combined $312,000, a record at the time for any single baseball card.

For many collectors, no Mickey Mantle collection is complete without one of his legendary Kodachrome snapshot cards. Throughout the 1950s, Topps would occasionally purchase unique color snapshot photos directly from amateur photographers and insert them randomly into their releases as a novel variant. One such card from the 1954 Topps set featured a live action Kodachrome photo of an in-swing Mantle that has always attracted premium dollars due to its superb close-up action image quality well before the age of ubiquitous sports photography. An ultra-rare PSA 8 copy of the 1954 Topps Mantle Kodachrome sold at auction in 2017 for $63,750.

While Mantle’s 1952 Topps rookie will probably always remain the crown jewel, his 1956 Topps, 1953 Topps proofs, 1955 PSA 10, and rare Kodachrome issues continue to set record prices due to their individual historical significance, photo quality, and microlimited surviving populations in high grade. With the long running boom and diversification of the collectibles industry in recent decades, more resources and access than ever have exposed Mantle’s legendary cards to growing global collectibles audiences. As a result, his most prized vintage issues have reached such elevated levels that acquiring even lower graded examples will remain out of reach for all but the most well-heeled of vintage card collectors and investors. But for those able to obtain high quality samples of Mantle’s rarest cards, they gain access to documented pieces of American sports memorabilia history and some of the most universally recognizable and valuable trading cards ever made.