1964 Topps #54 Sam Mele
About this card
This is one of the twenty manager cards in the 1964 Topps set, one for each franchise. Nineteen are printed Manager; #486 Bob Kennedy is printed Head Coach because the Cubs were still running their College of Coaches.
About Sam Mele
Minnesota slipped to 79-83 in 1964, a tie for sixth place with Cleveland and twenty games behind the Yankees, even as Tony Oliva won Rookie of the Year with a league-best .323 average and 217 hits and Killebrew hit 49 home runs. The losing record put Mele's job in the newspapers, with the talk being that Billy Martin - who joined his coaching staff as third base coach the following spring - would replace him. His card here is Topps #54, a first series number.
Sabath Anthony Mele, who picked up the nickname "Sam" from his initials, was born in 1922 in Astoria, in the New York City borough of Queens, the nephew of major leaguers Tony and Al Cuccinello. After starring at New York University in baseball and basketball and serving in the Marine Corps during World War II, he signed with the Boston Red Sox and made his major league debut in 1947, hitting .302 as a rookie right fielder. Over a ten-year playing career with the Red Sox, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Redlegs and Cleveland Indians, he batted .267 with 80 home runs and led the American League in doubles in 1951. After his playing days ended, Mele coached for the Senators and followed the franchise to Minnesota, taking over as manager of the Twins in June 1961. He managed the club into 1967, compiling a 524-436 record and guiding Minnesota to its first American League pennant. He later scouted for the Red Sox for decades until retiring in 1994, and died in 2017 at 95.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 305 | 2 | 29 | 162 | 79 | 21 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 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: #318 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #2 1963 American League E.R.A. Leaders
- #4 1963 American League Pitching Leaders
- #6 1963 American League Strikeout Leaders
- #8 1963 American League Batting Leaders
- #10 1963 American League Home Run Leaders
- #12 1963 American League R.B.I. Leaders
- #15 Zoilo Versalles
- #34 Jim Perry
- #73 Jimmie Hall
- #81 All-Star Vets
- #90 Earl Battey
- #116 Twins 1964 Rookie Stars
- #156 Bill Dailey
- #177 Harmon Killebrew
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1964 Topps #54 card?
It is card #54 of the 587-card 1964 Topps Baseball set, picturing Sam Mele of the Minnesota Twins. This is one of the twenty manager cards in the 1964 Topps set, one for each franchise. Nineteen are printed Manager; #486 Bob Kennedy is printed Head Coach because the Cubs were still running their College of Coaches.
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.