1953 Topps Mickey Mantle #82

A set of oil paintings

Topps had beaten Bowman on size and scope with its 407-card 1952 set, but much of that set sat unsold late in the summer as children's attention turned to football. For 1953 the company scaled back to a 280-card checklist and changed the look entirely. Instead of tinting black-and-white photographs, it commissioned paintings: individual portraits credited to New Jersey artist Gerry Dvorak, who was paid $25 per card. A 2026 market report says Topps lacked full access to player photography, much of which Bowman controlled, and that it often rejected paintings and asked for them to be redone.

The cards kept the large 2 5/8 by 3 3/4 inch format. Below each portrait ran a solid color banner with the player's name, position and team and a large team logo: red for American League players, black for National Leaguers. The backs carried 1952 and lifetime statistics, the player's full given name, a short biography with a facsimile signature, and a 'Dugout Quiz' with trivia and a cartoon.

The set was issued in four series, #1-85, #86-165, #166-220 and #221-280. Mantle's #82 came in the first series, as a single print rather than one of the set's many double prints. A fight with Bowman over player contracts left holes: five cards each from the first two series were bumped to later series, and six numbers in the last series were never issued at all, so the 280-card checklist yielded 274 cards.

The Mick at 21

Mickey Charles Mantle was born October 20, 1931, in Spavinaw, Oklahoma. His father, Mutt, a lead miner and former minor leaguer, raised him to hit from both sides of the plate. The Yankees signed him out of high school, and he reached New York in 1951, the year Joe DiMaggio retired. In Game 2 of the 1951 World Series he wrecked his knee chasing a fly ball hit by Willie Mays, an injury that nagged him for the rest of his career.

When the 1953 card was painted he was coming off his first great season: in 1952 he hit .311 with 23 home runs and made his first All-Star team. In 1953 he hit .295 with 21 home runs, 92 RBI, 105 runs and 79 walks. In Game 5 of the 1953 World Series, on October 4, he hit a grand slam off Brooklyn's Russ Meyer, and the next day the Yankees won their fifth straight championship, a run no team has matched.

The best was still ahead. In 1956 he won the Triple Crown with a .353 average, 52 home runs and 130 RBI, and he won MVP awards in 1956, 1957 and 1962. Over 18 seasons he hit 536 home runs with 2,415 hits, 1,509 RBI and a .298 average, and he holds World Series records for home runs (18), runs (42), RBI (40), walks (43), extra-base hits (26) and total bases (123). He entered the Hall of Fame in 1974 and died August 13, 1995, in Dallas.

Baseball in 1953

The 1953 season opened with a new team in Milwaukee, the transplanted Boston Braves. The St. Louis Browns played their last season before moving to Baltimore, and Cincinnati's club officially became the 'Redlegs.' Ted Williams was serving in the Korean War and Willie Mays was in the Army, so both stars were largely missing from the season.

Some of the absences reached the cards. Topps could not sign everyone whose Bowman contract had run out, and Stan Musial, under contract to Bowman, does not appear. The 1953 set is also the only Topps set made before 1970 without the rookie card of a future Hall of Famer.

Beyond the ballpark, Dwight Eisenhower took office in January, the Rosenbergs were executed in June, the first Chevrolet Corvette was assembled in Flint, Michigan, at the end of June, and the Korean War armistice was signed on July 27.

From $13,497 to six figures

On August 20, 1989, in an auction of Topps' archives, the Marriott Corporation paid $110,000 for the original oil painting used for the Mantle card, then bought the Mays painting for a similar sum. The painting itself had become a trophy before most of the cards had.

For the card itself, a 2007 auction sale at $13,497 is described as the first time it broke five figures. By 2007 PSA had graded 1,538 copies, more than any other card in the set, with 81 at PSA 8, ten PSA 9s and a single PSA 10, which had sold for $94,000 a few years earlier.

In September 2022 a PSA 8 sold at auction for a record $117,604. In December 2023 another PSA 8 brought $89,635 with buyer's premium, and a separate PSA 8 sale realized $91,151. PSA's most recent recorded prices are $93,000 for a PSA 8 and $396,000 for a PSA 9. A PSA 10 is reported to have sold for $3.1 million in August 2021, the highest price for the card.

Mid grades trade often. At online auction in 2026, a PSA 6 sold for $16,767 in March, a PSA 5 for $8,600 the same month, and a PSA 3 for $6,400 in July.

What to look for

The card is #82, with a close-up painted portrait of Mantle and a red American League banner at the bottom. That banner bleeds to the edge of the card, so chipping along the bottom is the most common flaw. Centering is also hard to find, and because the portrait fills so much of the card, print defects that land on Mantle's face are especially noticeable.

PSA's census lists two PSA 10s, ten PSA 9s, 95 PSA 8s and 179 PSA 7s. The 1953 card is often a collector's step toward Mantle after the 1951 Bowman and 1952 Topps cards have moved out of reach.

In 1991 Topps reprinted the set in its Archives series, with wider white borders, a smaller size and a glossy finish, and added 57 'Cards That Never Were.' The reprints are not the 1953 card.

The numbers

1953 season

127 G, 461 AB, 105 R, 136 H, 24 2B, 3 3B, 21 HR, 92 RBI, 8 SB, 79 BB, .295 BA, .398 OBP, .497 SLG

1953 World Series vs. Brooklyn

6 G, 24 AB, 3 R, 5 H, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, 8 SO, .208 BA. Grand slam in Game 5; Yankees won 4-2.

1952 season

142 G, 94 R, 171 H, 37 2B, 7 3B, 23 HR, 87 RBI, 75 BB, .311 BA, .394 OBP, .530 SLG. First All-Star selection.

1956 season

.353 BA, 52 HR, 130 RBI. Triple Crown and AL MVP.

Career (18 seasons)

2,401 G, 2,415 H, 536 HR, 1,509 RBI, .298 BA

Honors

3 MVPs (1956, 1957, 1962), 7 World Series titles

Hall of Fame

Elected 1974, 322 of 365 ballots

Timeline

1. Oct 20, 1931

   Mickey Mantle is born in Spavinaw, Oklahoma.

2. Oct 1951

   As a rookie, Mantle injures his knee in Game 2 of the World Series.

3. 1952

   Mantle hits .311 with 23 home runs and makes his first All-Star team.

4. 1953

   Topps issues its painted 280-number set; Mantle's #82 is a single print in the first series.

5. Oct 4, 1953

   Mantle hits a grand slam off Russ Meyer in Game 5 of the World Series.

6. Oct 5, 1953

   The Yankees win their fifth consecutive World Series.

7. 1956

   Mantle wins the Triple Crown.

8. 1974

   Mantle is elected to the Hall of Fame.

9. Aug 20, 1989

   The Marriott Corporation buys the original Mantle painting for $110,000 in an auction of Topps' archives.

10. 1991

    Topps reprints the 1953 set in its Archives series.

11. Aug 13, 1995

    Mantle dies in Dallas.

12. 2007

    The card sells at auction for $13,497, reported as its first five-figure sale.

13. Aug 2021

    A PSA 10 is reported to sell for $3.1 million.

14. Sep 2022

    A PSA 8 sells at auction for a record $117,604.

15. Dec 15, 2023

    A PSA 8 sells at auction for $89,635 with buyer's premium.

The world in 1953

• Jan 20, 1953

  Dwight D. Eisenhower is sworn in as the 34th president.

• Feb 5, 1953

  Disney's Peter Pan premieres in Chicago.

• Jun 19, 1953

  Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing.

• Jun 30, 1953

  The first Chevrolet Corvette is completed in Flint, Michigan.

• Jul 27, 1953

  The Korean War armistice is signed.

• Oct 5, 1953

  Earl Warren is appointed Chief Justice, and the Yankees win the World Series.

• Dec 1953

  Hugh Hefner publishes the first issue of Playboy.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this card every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

No completed sale at PSA 8 is on record yet. The same card at other grades:

Every grade and recorded sale for this card

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1953 Topps Mickey Mantle #82 is number 21 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (19 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The artist behind the 1953 Topps portraits was reportedly paid $25 per card.
• In 1989 the original painting for the Mantle card sold for $110,000, years before any copy of the card reached that price.
• The 1953 Topps checklist runs to 280, but six numbers were never printed because of contract fights with Bowman.
• Mantle's card is a single print in a set full of double prints, many of them little-known players.
• 1953 Topps is the only Topps set before 1970 without a rookie card of a future Hall of Famer.
• Mantle hit a grand slam in the 1953 World Series as the Yankees won their fifth title in a row.
• Topps reprinted the set in 1991 and added 57 'Cards That Never Were,' including Ted Williams and Hank Aaron.