There's a great, quirky story to this one. On July 1, 1966, the Yankees were on the road in Washington, playing the Senators at D.C. (later renamed R.F.K.) Stadium. Mantle connected on Senator hurler Phil Ortega's pitch, resulting in a blast that smashed against the outfield mezzanine and bounced back onto the playing field. The left fielder threw the ball to the Yankee dugout, and then the Yankee batboy threw the ball to the Senators dugout (the home team supplied the balls). Here it came into the possession of the Senators batboy, our consignor. Eager to get an autograph from Mantle, who had a reputation of only signing for fellow ballplayers, the batboy passed the ball to Ortega, asking if he would get Mickey to sign it to him. Ortega sent the ball to the Yankee clubhouse with those instructions. But there was confusion. Mantle mistook the request to mean that he should sign the ball to the pitcher and not the batboy, and inked a gently mocking, "To Phil, Best Wishes and thanks for throwing this one easy, Mickey Mantle." The batboy, a bit disappointed, offered the ball to Ortega, who, unsurprisingly, had no desire to keep it. And so the Senators batboy decided to keep the ball anyhow, even though his hopes of getting a ball personalized to him went unfulfilled. But sometimes these things work out for the best, don't they? This well-used OAL (Cronin) baseball stands as one of the hobby's only documented Mantle homers. The EX-MT side panel ink from the Mick on that day speaks more strongly than any LOA could (though one from the consignor is included of course). And for a baseball hero known and loved best for his home run power, is there any greater memento?