Cardboard Classics - Marquee Mantle

I recently shipped myself a batch of cards from COMC that had been building up for a couple of months.  There was one gem among them that I couldn't wait to share, and I think it's worthy of its own post:

I knew I was picking up this card the moment I came across it.  In my humble opinion it features one of the best photographs that I've ever seen featured on a baseball card, period!  Mickey here comes from the 2011 Topps Marquee set.  The cards are super thick, and I'm assuming it was a high end product, but they feature some really stunning photographs.  There's just something about this shot that hits home in a nostalgic (even thought I wasn't born yet when this photo was snapped) or historic kind of way.  I'm glad Topps didn't put a border around this one and just let the photo stand on its own.

My copy happens to be the blue parallel, serial numbered to 299 copies, but I don't really care about that.  It just happened to be the cheapest copy available, and I snagged it with an offer of $1.33, which I felt was a bargain.

The back is nothing special, although it does feature career stats and an amusing anecdote.  Still, it can't compare to the front...

Just over $1 spent and this may be my favorite new card added to my collection in 2014.  Just goes to show you that this hobby doesn't need to be expensive to be fun.