Mickens was born in Wilmar, California in 1930. He pitched in four games (two of which were starts) for the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers. He also played for five seasons in Japan, from 1959 until 1963, with the Kintetsu Buffaloes, for whom he
compiled a record of 45-53 with a 2.54 ERA. In 1960, Hinomaru Caramel changed the size of their Tachibana Seika baseball cards to conform to the new "stick of gum" card size introduced by competitors, Jintan Gum, Sanko Gum, Jack
Gum and Tokyo Watanabe Seika Hero Gum. This was the only year during their 11 year run of producing baseball cards (1952-62) that they deviated from their traditional 1 19/32" x 2 13/16" size. This change was probably just an
experiment, as most 1960 Tachibana Seika cards were printed in the regular format. We do know that stick of gum sized Tachibana Seika cards are rare. The Japanese Baseball Card Checklist & Price Guide assigns a scarcity factor to
this set of R5, which means that three or fewer examples of each card in the set are known in the hobby.
Size: 25/32" x 2 13/16"
Condition: Good to Vg