April 3, 2025: Spring Auction
Here’s a fascinating piece of memorabilia that traces its roots to one of the most famous figures in hobby history, Woody Gelman: an 8-by-10-inch black-and-white proof of a composite image from the team-issued Picture Pak of eight members of the 1951 World Champion Yankees ball club. The eight ball players are headlined by rookie sensation Mickey Mantle, with his first name misspelled as “Micky” in the composite. The rest of the lineup: McDougald, Raschi, Collins, Gorman, Kuzava, Sain and McDonald. The photo proof is neatly matted and framed to approximately 14-by-16 inches, with a technical grade of Good from wear and tiny paper loss to a corner of the McDonald image. With its lineage traced to the legendary Gelman, the piece boasts considerable cachet coming from the personal collection of the Topps art director and designer who teamed up with fellow icon Sy Berger in producing the classic Topps sports issues for three decades. After his tenure with Topps, Gelman became a hobby fixture in the earliest days, funneling many of the rare test issues and proofs into a fledgling hobby; his son, Richard, earned a similar place in the hobby pantheon launching the fabled Card Collectors Company of Franklin Square, N.Y., one of the earliest and largest major card dealers in the country, along with producing dozens of collector issues and reprints that remain hobby favorites decades later.
1951 Yankees (Mickey Mantle’s Rookie Year) Error Proof Photo from Gelman Collection
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