When I started my research for this article, I intended to write about various Mickey Mantle postcards. But when I ran across the 1958 Holiday Inn Mickey Mantle Postcard, I learned that the same image was used on at least four different collectibles, so I thought a dedicated overview made more sense.
Folks might not know that Mickey Mantle was an owner of a Holiday Inn hotel in Joplin, Missouri, with his friend Harold Youngman; Lodging Magazine wrote an excellent overview. The hotel opened on January 1, 1957, with a gift shop; today, souvenir items are really popular amongst Mantle collectors; a dedicated Mantle fan shared his incredible collection over on the Collector’s Universe Forums.
One of the items sold in the Holiday Inn gift shop was a black and white glossy photo of Mantle. That item is known as the 1958 Holiday Inn Mickey Mantle Premium Photocard. Less commonly, you will see it as the Holiday Inn Mickey Mantle Gift-Shop Photo. It’s 5″ x 7″ in size and features a posed photo of Mantle batting with the words ‘Best Wishes Mickey Mantle’ as a facsimile printed on the image. Beneath the picture, within the border, is Mickey Mantle’s name in capital letters, along with the words Holiday Inn and the hotel’s address. The back is blank.
PSA has encapsulated 52 of these photocards, and they are relatively affordable. The last three sales include a PSA 2 (MK) selling for $80 in November 2020, a PSA 2 at $126 in October 2020, and a PSA 4 for $270 in November 2019.
The gift shop also sold a postcard which is a little scarcer than the photocard. PSA has only graded 28 copies of it, so they sell for a little more than the photocard. The last three sales include a PSA 3 for $355 in March 2021, a PSA 1 for $157 in January 2021, and a PSA 6 for $583 in December 2020.
It turns out that the Yankees initially used the photo to send to folks who requested Mantle’s autograph. That version is a blank-backed photo with equal-sized borders (5″ x 7″ in size) and no other text other than the facsimile.
The last version is the Newark Youth Day copy (also 5″ x 7″) that the team handed out to 1367 fans who attended the event at Yankee Stadium on September 14, 1957. This version has the event details added to the upper left side’s corner.
So there are at least four versions of this posed Mickey Mantle photograph out there for fans to collect; the photocard (gift shop photo), postcard, mailer, and youth day copies. If you’re aware of any other varieties, please leave a comment or contact me on Twitter; Happy Collecting!