1965 Topps #391 Mel McGaha
About this card
This is one of the twenty manager cards in the 1965 Topps set - nineteen managers plus #457 Bob Kennedy, the Cubs' head coach in the College of Coaches era.
About Mel McGaha
Card 391, a fifth-series slot, shows McGaha in his second year running Charlie Finley's Athletics - a job that lasted 26 games. Kansas City had shipped its one real slugger, Rocky Colavito, to Cleveland in a January trade, leaving McGaha a lineup stocked with untried bonus babies he was obliged to keep on the big-league roster or lose. The A's dropped 11 of their first 13. On May 13 he handed 19-year-old Catfish Hunter his professional debut; on May 15, with the club 5-21 and 13.5 games out, McGaha was fired and replaced by Haywood Sullivan. That closed out his major league managing career at 123-173.
Fred Melvin McGaha was born September 26, 1926, in Bastrop, Louisiana, and grew up in Mabelvale, Arkansas. He lettered in three sports at the University of Arkansas and returned an interception 70 yards in the 1948 Dixie Bowl, then left school with offers from the Los Angeles Rams, the New York Knicks and the St. Louis Cardinals. He took the last two, playing 51 games at guard for the Knicks in the BAA in 1948-49 and catching in the Cardinals' chain. Two injuries kept him out of the majors as a player: a 1948 bus crash that killed four Duluth Dukes teammates and their manager left his right shoulder badly separated, and he separated the left one in 1951. He retired after the 1958 season and managed Shreveport, Mobile and Toronto to titles, taking the 1960 International League and Sporting News minor league manager of the year honors. That carried him to Cleveland in 1962 and the Kansas City Athletics in 1964-65. He later managed in the Astros' chain, coached first base in Houston, ran the parks departments in Shreveport and Bossier City, and was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1970. He died February 3, 2002.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 241 | 1 | 41 | 126 | 49 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 12 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 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. The two checklist variations, #79 and #508, are listed under the wording PSA uses for each state.
Find this card
Search T206 Cards Shop 1965 Topps cards Live auctions Buy It Now on eBay Sold prices
As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, T206Cards.com may earn from qualifying purchases.
Related cards
Team card: #151 Kansas City Athletics
More Kansas City Athletics cards:
- #35 Ed Charles
- #51 Billy Bryan
- #71 John O'Donoghue
- #87 Nelson Mathews
- #117 Wes Stock
- #168 Dick Green
- #197 Diego Segui
- #219 Bob Meyer
- #239 Doc Edwards
- #266 Bert Campaneris
- #286 Athletics 1965 Rookie Stars
- #311 Orlando Pena
- #333 Tommie Reynolds
- #365 Jim Gentile
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1965 Topps #391 card?
It is card #391 of the 598-card 1965 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mel McGaha of the Kansas City Athletics. This is one of the twenty manager cards in the 1965 Topps set - nineteen managers plus #457 Bob Kennedy, the Cubs' head coach in the College of Coaches era.
How many cards are in the 1965 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 600 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no printed-number collisions, and two checklist cards - #79 and #508 - carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, 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.