Mickey Mantle’s First Topps All-Stars: Scarcity vs. Value in 1958 and 1959

In 1958, Topps introduced its first subset, a group of All-Star cards sponsored by Sport Magazine. Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle was, of course, included. The following year, Topps expanded its use of subsets, adding Baseball Thrills and Rookie Stars alongside another All-Star series.

Mantle appeared in the All-Star subset both years, making the cards an interesting pair to compare. Both remain popular with collectors, but how do they stack up in terms of scarcity and value?

1958 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star #487

The 1958 Topps All-Star cards aren’t usually considered the most attractive subset in hobby history. Mantle’s card features him completing a swing against a red background filled with white stars.

1959 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star #564

Mantle’s 1959 All-Star card features a head-and-shoulders-like portrait against a bright blue background, with The Sporting News banner displayed across the top. A lot of collectors consider it the stronger design of the two.

A comparison

Neither Mantle All-Star card is particularly difficult to find. However, PSA has graded more than three times as many 1958 examples as 1959s. At the time of writing, PSA’s population report shows 16,236 graded copies of the 1958 card compared to 5,052 of the 1959 card.

Sports Collectors Daily noted, about the ’58 All-Star card, that “It is believed that the All-Star cards of Mangle and Musial were triple printed to increase popularity with the year’s final series, issued during a time of year when baseball season was ending, and football was beginning.”

Because of the disparity in availability, it would be reasonable to assume that the scarcer 1959 card would command a significant premium. The sales data support that idea to a degree, but not nearly as much as the population reports might suggest.

Looking at the numbers, the relationship between scarcity and value isn’t especially straightforward. The 1959 card is scarcer across all three grades, yet it only sells for more in PSA 7 (where ’58s are nearly three times as common). In PSA 8 and PSA 9, the 1958 card actually brings stronger prices despite being more available.

The data is also a bit different from what collectors would have seen earlier this decade. In the early 2020s, the 1959 All-Star generally sold for more than the 1958 across the board.

Why the 1958 card has pulled ahead in PSA 8 and PSA 9 isn’t entirely clear. Perhaps collectors place extra value on it as the first Topps All-Star issue, or perhaps the market simply prefers the 1958 set. Whatever the reason, demand appears to be outweighing scarcity at the upper end of the grading scale.

Wrap Up

Population reports are one of the hobby’s most useful tools, but they’re only part of the story; countless other factors can influence prices. The 1958 and 1959 Topps Mickey Mantle All-Star cards are a good reminder that scarcity alone doesn’t determine value.

Happy collecting!

P.S. If you have any thoughts on the market dynamics behind these cards, let me know in the comments.