Joplin was the pivotal turning point in Mickey Mantle's fabled rise to superstardom. The 18-year-old prospect had left the 1949 Class D Independence Yankees as a scrawny 160-pound boy, and he joined the 1950 Class C Joplin Miners as a filled-out, 180-pound man—all rippling muscles and lightning reflexes. At Independence, Mantle hit just 7 home runs. In Joplin, he exploded for 26 round-trippers to go along with his .383 batting average, 199 hits, 136 RBIs, 141 runs, 30 doubles and 12 triples. As author Allen Barra has described the change, "Now, instead of merely hitting the ball ten or twelve feet over the fence, [Mantle] was smashing the drives into the light towers beyond the fences”. Some who witnessed Mickey's Joplin supremacy said they saw him at the top of his game, the very pinnacle of his strength, speed and abilities—before all those later injuries interfered. The young Mick was too talented to hang around Joplin long. Soon Casey Stengel came calling and brought the phenom up to the majors with DiMaggio, Berra and company for the last few weeks of the Yankees' 1950 championship campaign. The Mick had blossomed in Joplin. Now he was ready to go make his mark in the House That Ruth Built.
Presented here is perhaps the ultimate display piece from that crucial steppingstone season: A 1950 Joplin Miners original team photograph (valuable in its own right) that is then fully signed by the 18 featured players. Orchestrated and previously owned by Joplin manager Harry Craft himself, the 8" x 10" autographed photo carries Mantle's seminal signing style and, to the best of our knowledge, stands as the only completely signed 1950 Joplin image in existence. It certainly ranks among the Mick's very earliest team-signed photos, predated only (to our knowledge) by the Independence Yankees example offered in this same auction. The blue-ink script reflects "7" quality and includes: Harry Craft, Lyle Westrum, Carl Lombardi, Al Billingsley (sig. "8"), Lou Skizas, Steve Kraly, Cromer Smotherman, Len Weisner, Dave Waters, Cal Neeman, Mickey Mantle, Tom Gott, Jerry Buchanan, Bob Wiesler, Frank Simanovsky, Dick Fiedler, Dan Ferber and Joe Crowder. Appearance quality is EX to EX/MT with a clean image area, and there's a reverse-side vintage notation reading, "1950 - 'Joplin Miners' - Joplin, Mo." Full LOA from PSA/DNA.