Mickey Mantle, PC: Wikipedia
On April 7, 2024, the auction house sold a Type 1 print of the same Mantle action photograph for $843,750. It was an original 8-by-10-inch photograph taken by Yankees team photographer Bob Olen and had remained among Kramer’s possessions for decades. Heritage said only four known original prints of the image existed, meaning the $843,750 photograph was one of the rare Type 1 examples. The auction house described the sale as a record for a Type 1 sports photograph, surpassing the previous $516,000 record set by a Ty Cobb photograph.
The huge difference in value between different generations of the image can be seen in another Heritage sale. The photograph came from the collection of Jack Kramer, a former major-league pitcher who had been Mantle’s Yankees teammate.
The photograph, later authenticated by PSA/DNA as a Type 2 print, captured Mantle during spring training early in his rookie season and became the source image for his iconic 1951 Bowman rookie card. The photograph was sold on December 20, 2025, during Heritage’s Winter Sports Catalogue Auction, fetching $20,740. 6 uniform and the bat belonging to teammate Joe Collins, help place the image at a specific point in the young player’s career. Heritage said the handwriting perfectly matched the handwriting on a Type 1 example of the same photograph that it had sold for $71,700 in 2015. The auction house also noted that it had since sold another Type 1 example for more than $800,000. The $20,740 photograph was not in perfect condition. It had no other markings or stamps and was encapsulated by PSA/DNA as a Type 2 photograph. The combination of its provenance, its use as the source for the 1951 Bowman rookie card and its unusual garage-sale discovery helped make it a notable auction find.
The couple also found an image of Joe DiMaggio inside the same book, according to Heritage Auctions, which later offered the Mantle photograph for sale. The photograph found in the garage-sale book had handwritten words identifying the subject as “Mickey Mantle” on its reverse. A couple browsing an oversized Topps baseball-card coffee-table book at a local garage sale made an unexpected discovery when they found a rare photograph of a young Mickey Mantle tucked inside. Its value was not simply tied to Mantle’s fame. Details in the photograph, including his No. Heritage noted surface wear on the front, numerous light horizontal cracks in the glossy finish, several small areas of paper loss along the white border and a slight tear on the middle-right side. Despite those imperfections, the photograph retained a direct connection to one of the most recognisable images from Mantle’s early career.