When my son, a Yankees fan, sent Bobby Richardson a silver-bordered 1988 Pacific Legends card to sign through the mail in January of 2021, it soon came back with a neat signature from the legendary second baseman.
Richardson included a couple of extra items as well and personalized both of them. One was a custom card (similar to Richardson’s 1966 Topps card), which lists his career highlights on the back. The other was a pamphlet, or tract, with a photo of a kneeling Mickey Mantle on the front and titled “Mickey Mantle: His Final Inning,” on which Richardson penned, “Mantle was my teammate my whole career 55-66” and signed it “Bobby.”
“We were friends,” Richardson said of Mantle in a recent phone interview from his home in Sumter, S.C. the week of his 87th birthday.
“During the season, I
