Ron Montri: If only 'The Mick' had shown up in my pack of baseball cards

I never was fortunate enough to open a pack of baseball cards in the 1950s and 1960s and find a picture of Mickey Mantle.

There were hundreds of opportunities to get a card with the boyish good looks of “The Mick,” but it never happened for me. I bought hundreds of packs of baseball cards. They were just a nickel a pack and you also received a slab of bubble gum.

I grew up on a farm along a stone road. It was pure country, but we were less than two miles from Ida Center Market on the corner of Lewis Ave. and Ida Center Rd. It was a short ride from the farm to the market on the used green bicycle that my father had bought for $20.

When the bicycle didn’t have a flat tire — which was often — I rode it all over Ida Township.

I remember being mildly upset that I didn’t get a Mickey Mantle card.

But one of my schoolmates (Larry Metz) had one and showed us his collection. It was the same picture of Mantle that you see with a bat on his shoulder. All — or most of us — disliked the Yankees because they won too much.

I never got a Mantle card or an Al Kaline, either.

My lucky guy was Harmon Killebrew and I had 16 of him. Every time I opened a pack and Killebrew was looking back at me, I’d want to toss the latest card into the garbage. Little did I know that “The Killer” would go on to hit more than 500 home runs and be named to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Mantle is a Hall of Fame selection, too, but is he worth the $12,6 million his card recently sold for?

That set a record for the largest price ever paid for a sports card.

Mint condition or not, Mantle isn’t worth that kind of money. He wasn’t the best player of his day.

Hank Aaron was.

Born in Spavinaw, OK, in 1931, Mantle died in 1995.

He had tremendous speed with 74 career triples, 350 career doubles and 156 stolen bases in 198 attempts.

Mantle who played his entire 18-year career with the Yankees, still holds the major league record with the highest slugging average for a switch-hitter at .557. He had 536 home runs, scored 676 runs and averaged better that a hit a game with 2,415 in 2,401 outings.

Impressive statistics, but is his baseball card worth the most money ever paid for a collector’s item in sports history?

The lucky collector who recently sold the Mantle card for $12.6 million bought it was the bargain price of $50,000 in 1991. The sale shattered the record price of $7.25 million for a Honus Wagner card earlier this month.

According to a recent story on ESPN.com, here are some other notable prices for sports memorabilia include: Diego Mardona Argentina soccer jersey from 1986 World Cup finals, $9.28 million; Jackie Robinson 1947 debut game ticket stub, $480,000; Michael Jordan rookie season game-worn shoes, $1.47 million; autographed Patrick Mahomes 1-of-1 rookie card, $4.3 million; LeBron James autographed rookie card, $5.2 million; Wayne Gretzky final Edmonton Oilers game hockey jersey, $1.452 million.

I don’t know if baseball cards still are for sale. If they are, imagine what a vintage Albert Puljos, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlamder or Mike Trout would be worth in 50 or 60 years?

Ron Montri is the former sports editor of The Monroe News. You can send him a message at sports@monroenews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Ron Montri: If only 'The Mick' had shown up in my pack of baseball cards