1964 Topps #515 Johnny Romano
About Johnny Romano
Card #515 is a series-6 card, and it reports an injury-shortened 1963. Romano was batting .269 when he broke a finger on May 26, tagging out Baltimore's Jackie Brandt at the plate in the eighth inning. The cast was supposed to stay on six weeks; it came off after two so he could keep handling young Cleveland arms like Sam McDowell and Tommy John, and by his own account the hand never healed properly and bothered him for years afterward. He was out until July 2 and finished at .216 with 10 home runs and 34 RBI in 89 games.
John Anthony Romano Jr., a catcher nicknamed 'Honey' by an uncle, signed with the Chicago White Sox organization in 1954 out of Hoboken, New Jersey, and set a Class B Three-I League record with 38 home runs for Waterloo in 1955. He reached the majors with Chicago late in 1958, backed up Sherm Lollar on the pennant-winning 1959 White Sox, and became Cleveland's regular catcher in 1960. An All-Star in 1961 and 1962, he hit 91 home runs as a Cleveland catcher, a franchise record for the position until Sandy Alomar Jr. passed it. A broken finger in May 1963 cost him half a season, and he never again matched the .299 average or the 25 homers of his All-Star years. A 1965 trade returned him to Chicago and a 1966 trade sent him to St. Louis, where he closed out a ten-year career with the World Series champion Cardinals, finishing at .255 with 129 home runs and 417 RBI in 905 games.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 166 | 2 | 11 | 75 | 50 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 1 |
| SGC | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
Team card: #172 Cleveland Indians
More Cleveland Indians cards:
- #64 Ted Abernathy
- #77 Jerry Walker
- #105 Woody Held
- #122 Don McMahon
- #133 Jim Grant
- #146 Indians 1964 Rookie Stars
- #184 Al Luplow
- #199 Joe Azcue
- #216 Mike de la Hoz
- #234 Gary Bell
- #253 Wally Post
- #301 Larry Brown
- #317 Al Smith
- #338 Jack Kralick
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #515 card?
It is card #515 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Johnny Romano of the Cleveland Indians.
Why is #515 harder to find?
It is a series 5-6 card. Cards from the fifth and sixth print series (#371-522) are a step tougher to find than #1-370; availability in 1964 runs in three tiers, not a cliff.
How many cards are in the 1964 Topps Baseball set?
587 cards, tracked as 589 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 587 with no gaps, and no number carries two different cards; two cards - #4, the A.L. Pitching Leaders, and #517, the seventh-series checklist - carry a catalogued back variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, The Topps Archives, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-11.