Willie Mays, known as “The Say Hey Kid,” was one of the greatest baseball players of his generation, if not of all time. The 1952 Bowman #218 Willie Mays baseball card is a wonderful addition to any memorabilia collection. Willie Mays played most of his career with the San Francisco Giants, earning 24 All Star Game appearances. Mays was a two-time National League Most Valuable Player, the National League Rookie of the Year in 1954, a World Series Champion in 1954, and the 1954 National League batting champion. Willie Mays had a lifetime batting average of .302, 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, 1,903 runs batted in, and 338 stolen bases. Mays is a member of the Major League Baseball All Century Team, and is one of five National League players to have had eight consecutive 100 RBI seasons. Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 in his first year of eligibility. After his playing years, Mays stayed with the Mets organization as a hitting instructor, and has had a biography written about his life. The year 1952 was a great year for card collectors. Bowman had won its battle with the Leaf company but was not prepared for the new Topps company. Seemingly overlooked by the 1952 Topps set, the Bowman set still stands on its own. The 1952 Bowman cards carried over a lot of the same design from the 1951 cards, with a vintage look that stood in stark contrast to the Topps set. The cards retained the art reproductions of black and white photos, with the main difference of the text box being replaced by a signature. The backs of the cards offer basic info and with stats included for each player, above an ad for baseball picture cards. The 252 card set was scaled down from the previous 324 cards in 1951, but the Bowman set is still a great collector’s item. The Bowman set packs 25 Hall of Fame players into the checklist including Stan Musial, Casey Stengel, and Ralph Kiner. Notable omissions include Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams. The vintage cards are highly sought after and showcase many All Star baseball players who later found themselves in the Hall of Fame. The Bowman 1952 cards are highly sought after and should be collected with care. Children all over the country loved the Bowman set and went nuts for the cards. Key cards in the set included include Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Stan Musial.