After his playing days were through Mickey Mantle remained one of the most high-profile members of the New York Yankees legion of living legends. In 1969 he jumped right into the broadcast booth as a part-time color commentator teaming with Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek for NBC’s Game of the Week telecasts in his first season after retiring. In 1970 he served briefly as a first base coach for the Yankees and in 1972 he was a part-time television commentator for the Montreal Expos. In 1977 Mantle served as a spring training batting coach for the Yankees for his old friend Billy Martin which is when he wore this adjustable-size, mesh back New Era New York Yankees cap which is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Mantle’s wife Merlyn and sons David and Danny. Another accompanying sheet containing photos of items from Mantle’s personal archive identifies the hat as one he wore while serving as a coach under Billy Martin. Mantle’s number 7 is written in bold black sharpie on the underside of the brim and the cap shows evidence of good use with dried sweat stains along the headband, a torn off manufacturers label and what looks like spilled coffee on the bottom of the Yankees interlocking NY on the crown and some residual dust and dirt on the outer brim. Despite the aforementioned use the cap has been well taken care of as part of the family’s estate. We believe that this is the only New York Yankee cap that Mickey Mantle has ever personally kept.

Auction Notepad