Did you know Mickey Mantle sponsored an indoor-outdoor cornhole-like throwing game in the 1950’s? I ran across this example in Ron Oser Enterprises April 2001 auction catalog.
They described it as a very large & colorful 22” x 34” heavy cardboard game with a striking 30” tall image of Mantle in a batting pose. They wrote that the board contained four 6-inch holes into which balls (or beanbags) were thrown to score singles, doubles, triples, or home runs. The center “Home Run 1000” hole still had the original red oil-cloth sack backing that would “catch” the ball. They gave the item an overall VgEx condition grade.
With all four bags in place, Heritage sold the following example for $2040 in May 2019; other auction houses have sold signed copies for north of $4k.
The instructions on the back show that Garnder & Co., in Chicago, Illinois, manufactured the game.
