1949 Mantle-Signed Checks on TV

Content Originally Published by Sports Collectors' Daily on February 17th, 2009.

They're sixty years old now. Old enough to be considered antiques even though for many, the memory of a young Mickey Mantle still seems fresh.

A small group of signed checks from Mantle's first professional baseball summer wound up starring in an episode of the hit PBS series Antiques Roadshow this week. Taped a few months ago in Wichita, KS, the show features a woman whose grandfather was secretary of the Independence (MO) team.

Mantle had just signed with the Yankees out of Commerce, OK High School and was spending his first summer drawing a paycheck. He earned all of $62 for what we assume was a week's work. Check out the transcript of the segment.