Topps Mickey Mantle Number 7

Topps Mickey Mantle #7: Mickey Mantle passed away on August 13, 1995. To honor the legendary Hall-of-Famer, The Topps Company decided to "retire" his jersey number 7. Similar to the way teams retire numbers for the legends who played for them, Topps decided that no card from their benchmark Topps Baseball (and subsequently Chrome) set would be numbered "7" beginning in 1997. The reason behind this bold move was to honor the man that helped Topps to establish their position as #1 in the sports cards industry. His 1952 Topps card, although not his rookie card, is one of the most recognized baseball cards in the world.

In 1996, Topps printed its last #7 baseball card. Fittingly, it was of "The Mick." The front of the card showed a picture of a now older Mantle in front of a purple background with a transparent New York Yankee's logo over what appears to be pictures from his 1962 Topps "The Switch Hitter Connects" card. There is a square gold-foil logo on the lower left corner of the card that has a picture of Mantle from his 1952 card with the years 1931 and 1995 on either side of him, and his name in capital letters on the bottom. The Topps logo is conspicuously printed above his name. On the reverse of the card, it mentions his career highlights.

Starting in 1997, Topps stopped printing a #7 card in honor of Mickey Mantle. In 2006, Topps reached a ten-year exclusivity agreement with the Mantle estate. Since then, card #7 in Topps Baseball has been of Mickey Mantle.

Leaf Jackie Robinson Card #42

Topps wasn't the only card company to announce a card number "retirement" in 1997. Pinnacle Brands announced that, beginning in 1998, card #42 would no longer be issued in its Leaf baseball set. The announcement coincided with the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. (Robinson's "rookie card" was issued in the 1948 Leaf set). When Playoff revived the Leaf name in 2002, they continued this tradition.