I got a letter from a reader who complained that SCD was overly infatuated with Mickey Mantle. I normally take readers’ concerns very seriously, but I couldn’t get too worked up about that one.
Overly infatuated with Mickey Mantle? (My words, not his) Sounds to me as plausible as say, being overly infatuated with Sophia Loren. Or Cracker Barrel restaurants. Sergio Leone Westerns. Willie Nelson. You get the idea.

I mean, it’s Mickey Mantle, for Pete’s sake. Or, more precisely, for Kelly’s sake. Our alleged infatuation with The Mick is about to be tested in a big way as we unveil Kelly Eisenhauer’s“Mickey Mantle: The Complete Collectibles Guide,” an unprecedented multi-part special series written by one of the most well-known and widely respected Mantle experts in the hobby.

That’s the headliner in our 35th anniversary issue, dated Feb. 6, 2009. Eisenhauer, a Mantle fan and collector for more than 40 years, offers insight and literally hundreds of photographs of many of the thousands of pieces of ephemera, consumer goods, trinkets, toys, advertising pieces, magazines, books, postcards, regional and food issues, the Topps inserts and test issues, oddball items, and, as they say, a whole lot more.

We’re going start it off with stuff that should be a little familiar to fans: Topps inserts and test items, but Kelly’s inventory is so extensive that it will still reveal dozens of items that even advanced collectors have seldom seen. The list is also so huge that this particular section will have to run in two parts.
Mantle Series pieces will follow approximately one per month, ultimately creating a wonderful reference source for serious fans and collectors.

I am hopeful that editing and designing these pages every month will help me get through the winter blahs, which, remarkably, seem to have settled in precisely two days into the official winter season.

How about sending a bit of Global, er, Wisconsinal Warming our way?

Oh, yeah. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.