I can relate well to your story Rockdeman. Mickey Mantle was my favorite player, too, growing up.
I didn't have his rookie card, but I had other Mantle baseball cards that would have been worth a lot today. However, I played with them (created my own baseball games using baseball cards) and put them in the spokes of my bicycle wheels. My brother got mad at me one time when we were little and punched holes with a pencil through my '62 Mantle card ruining it.
I recently had a delivery made to my place. A young man wearing a Yankees cap made the delivery. He was a Yankees fan. I told him I grew up liking the Yankees because my favorite player was Mickey Mantle.
He said who? He had never heard of Mickey Mantle. I felt like crying.