Lot # 52: 1952 Topps #261 Willie Mays Inaugural Topps Card (PSA 8)

Category: 1950-1959

Starting Bid: $7,500.00

Bids: 44 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Spring Classic Rarities Auction 2016",
which ran from 4/22/2016 2:30 PM to
5/7/2016 7:00 PM




(LOT 52)
1952 Topps #261 Willie Mays Inaugural Topps Card (PSA 8)

Willie Mays will forever be on every baseball expert's list of the top all-time players. His batting, fielding and running exploits set the benchmark for the "five tool player" concept, and he currently holds the distinguished title as baseball's greatest living ballplayer. This is why avid enthusiasts scramble to seize his most desirable and valuable cards with NONE more prestigious than his 1952 Topps rookie card. The first Willie Mays card was his 1951 Bowman issue, but similar to Mantle, it is his 1952 Topps rookie specimen that is most exalted among hobbyists. Advanced collectors assembling high grade 1952 Topps sets as well as the most hallowed rookie cards certainly require a high grade 1952 Topps Mays and this scintillating PSA 8 example offered here suffices as one of the finest in the business.

Consider that PSA has encapsulated over 1,600 Willie Mays 1952 Topps cards with a mere 3% achieving this hallowed grade and only 10 graded higher! The flashes of brilliance Mays depicted in his 1951 rookie campaign excited a myriad of the New York fan base. Swatting 20 round-trippers, portraying gazelle-like base running skills and catching virtually everything hit his way, Mays would capture the "Rookie of the Year" award, with Giant's fans anxiously awaiting his 1952 season. Unfortunately, due to the Korean War, Mays was drafted after only 34 games, and he would not see action again until the 1954 season. Topps celebrated his superb inaugural campaign with an imposing Mays #261 subject, and the "Say Hey Kid" never looked better than in this classic portrait pose of the immortal center fielder.

The youthful-looking Mays couldn't possibly imagine the incredible career he was about to embark on when he posed for this legendary photo highlighted by brilliant colored hues and vivid registration. Atypical for this card, both the vertical and horizontal centering portrays stellar positioning, with most 1952 Topps Mays copies depicting an image that significantly favors the perimeter edging. A bold violet background, pin-point corners, immaculate print clarity and blemish free surfaces provide the final compliments to one of the finest 1952 Topps Mays cards you could possibly encounter.

The hobby's high-grade 1950's stars are currently realizing stratospheric pricing points for Cooperstown's finest stars such as Mantle, Clemente Aaron and Mays, with record setting prices being recorded seemingly each and every passing week. That said, due to the extremely rare occurrences of one of those few "Mint 9" examples becoming available, we highly expect a significant "tug-of-war" for this exalted '52 Topps Mays marvel that irrefutably stands as one of the hobby's iconic heirlooms!

MIN BID $7,500
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