Mickey Mantle card breaks record, as sports memorabilia soar

NEW YORK (AP) – He grew up in Commerce, Oklahoma, played professional baseball in Joplin for a year, and made it to the big time when he was called up by the New York Yankees.

Now, a mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card has sold for $12.6 million, blasting into the record books Sunday as the most expensive ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia.

The rare Mantle card eclipsed the record just posted a few months ago $9.3 million for the jersey worn by Diego Maradona when he scored the controversial “Hand of God” goal in soccer’s 1986 World Cup.

The escalating records are part of a growing market for sports memorabilia that has taken off as people cocooned themselves during the pandemic one part nostalgia and one part financial opportunity.