1965 Topps Baseball Forum

A friend discovered an "error" on Topps 1965, #134 "Mantle's Clutch HR". It is supposed to be a photo of Mantle hitting a walk-off HR off Barney Schultz in game 3 of the 64 WS, however there are several clues in the card photo that reveal it is not that moment, nor even game 3. Game 3 was at Yankee Stadium and the Cardinal pitchers were Curt Simmons and Schultz. Of note:

1. Mantle is wearing his road gray uniform, not the home white uniform w/pinstripes.
2. The background wall is not at Yankee stadium, which was a chain-link type fence.
3. The pitcher is obviously Bob Gibson (who also has his number curiously whited out).
4. The catcher McCarver appears to be holding the ball that was thrown.

This was probably a moment from either game 2 or game 7, both of which had Gibson pitching and at Busch Stadium. Just curious why this has never been pointed out before - I've searched a lot of card sites and none seem to note it. Thanks.

Well, if you want to get technical...it's not really an error. 

There is nothing on the card that says that photo is Mantle hitting that specific home run, or that the image is from Game 3. Heavily implied? Yeah, absolutely. But at the end of the day, the write-up on the back references the event mentioned on the front of the card. Nowhere does anything say that the image on the front is from that moment, which means nothing on that card is factually incorrect.

I would assume that Topps probably didn't have access to an image of the moment, or at least a good image for a baseball card, so they went with something similar. Here's the card in question, for anyone else who wants to weigh in.

Not an error. Like Jason implied, they don't take photos of every pitch nor every play in every game.  Card companies can use whatever photo they want to represent a moment in time.  You can add a comment to the card with your opinion, if you wish.

This is not an error, period. There are several examples across many sets where the image doesn't match up to a specific event noted on the card - but nowhere on these cards does it say that the picture is from said event.

Novelty? - maybe.

Error? - no.

To be fair to the OP, he did put error in quotes. Don't think he was suggesting it should be entered as one.

Agreed. I should also add (which I didn't in my first reply, rudely) that the post came with outstanding investigative work and a nice compilation of evidence. It's never easy to identify what game a particular image is from, but to narrow it down to one of two is impressive.

I think the reponses here are meant to convey an answer to OP's question about why it's not been brought up on other card sites. 

Now, if only we could get folks to gather that much evidence before loading the newest Panini insert set, we'd be in good shape 

I've searched a lot of card sites and none seem to note it. Thanks.

Sounds from that he was expecting a site to note it. Namely, this site.

Yes, I wasn't really expecting it to be categorized as an "error" per se, but was just curious why it hasn't been discovered or noted before as an incorrect image of what it was implied to represent. I also don't understand the argument that Topps could use any photo as long as the back described the real moment. I guess I could put it in the same category as the 1969 Aurelio Rodriquez card (among others), which was a photo of a batboy and not Aurielio. Why is that one noted as an error as long as he's identified as Aurelio Rodriquez? Seeing as it's Mantle, it is surprising this one hasn't generated some kind of interest. 

As you stated about the 1969 Aurelio Rodriguez card, Aurelio Rodreiguez isn't shown on the card, but the bat boy is. That is an error. Mickey Mantle on a Mickey Mantle card is not an error.

Let me try to put it into perspective. A lot of Tony Gwynns cards after having 3141 hits, mention his 3141 hits. A lot of the pictures on the front of the card are not only not of his 3141th hit, but are pitcures of him from the 1980s or 90s. That doesn't make them any sort of error. Mentioning something on a card doesn't mean that it must have a picture of it on the card.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but those Gwynn cards are probably just noting his final hits stat, and not an action shot of "Tony Gwynn hitting # 3141". This card isn't just a Mantle card, it's about a specific big moment in a WS game in which Mantle was involved (and Gibson wasn't).