The seventeen-year old slugger famously signed on with the Yankees organization the evening of his high school graduation, inking the deal in the backseat of veteran scout Tom Greenwade's Chrysler. Greenwade played coy with young Mickey and his father Mutt, suggesting that the modest terms were a hedge on Mantle's small size and erratic fielding, though he'd later admit, "The first time I saw Mantle I knew how Paul Krichell felt when he first saw Lou Gehrig." This check represents half of the $140 monthly salary that made Mickey a member of the Independence Yankees of the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri class D farm system. Three dollars in official deductions results in the final figure of $67, the amount drawn from the team's "The Independence State Bank" account and authorized by club secretary John Vallina. The tremendously scarce teenaged signature variation of Mickey Mantle endorses the check on reverse, with 8.5/10 strength, in our opinion. In July 1950, after the start of the Korean War, Mantle was drafted for military service. The draft board rejected him as physically unqualified for military service due the osteomyelitic condition (from a football injury) of his left leg and gave him a 4-F deferment, the first of three times he was rejected for military service. Mantle would spend two years with the Class D Independence Yankees of the old K-O-M League before making his unsteady 1951 Major League debut and the rest, as they say, is baseball history. This check represents payment for June 15th to June 30th, logic would dictate that only two checks have ever existed that predate this one. PSA/DNA  AUTHENTIC - slab # 83823596.