1966 Topps #556 Mel Queen
About Mel Queen
By 1966 Queen was splitting time between the outfield and the mound for Cincinnati, the year the Reds began converting him into a pitcher; he made his pitching debut that July against St. Louis and finished the season with a 6.43 ERA over seven relief outings to go with 32 games in the outfield. This card comes from the high-number series that closes out the 1966 set. He batted .127 with 5 RBI in 56 total games that year.
Melvin Douglas Queen was born March 26, 1942, in Johnson City, New York, the son of former major league pitcher Mel Queen Sr. The family later settled in San Luis Obispo, California, where Queen starred in three sports before signing with the Cincinnati Reds out of high school in 1960. He broke in with Cincinnati in 1964 as an outfielder and pinch hitter, then in 1966 was converted into a pitcher, a rare two-way path in the majors. His best season came in 1967, when he went 14-8 with a 2.76 ERA and 154 strikeouts over 195.2 innings as a starter. Shoulder trouble limited him afterward, and he finished his playing career with the California Angels as a reliever from 1970 to 1972. Queen went on to a long coaching career, most notably as Toronto's major league pitching coach from 1996 through 1999 and later as a special assignment scout with the organization. Batting left and throwing right, he retired with a 20-17 pitching record and a .179 career batting average. He died May 11, 2011, in Morro Bay, California.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 363 | 0 | 17 | 116 | 104 | 70 | 36 | 20 | 0 |
| SGC | 26 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 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. Where SGC registers no separate row for a variation state, its slabs of that card are listed under the base state.
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Related cards
Team card: #59 Cincinnati Reds
More Cincinnati Reds cards:
- #12 John Tsitouris
- #30 Pete Rose
- #72 Tony Perez
- #89 Ted Davidson
- #119 Art Shamsky
- #140 Jim Maloney
- #159 Chico Ruiz
- #180 Vada Pinson
- #196 Don Pavletich
- #214 Tommy Harper
- #219 National League 1965 RBI Leaders
- #233 Dom Zanni
- #250 Sam Ellis
- #269 Don Heffner
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1966 Topps #556 card?
It is card #556 of the 598-card 1966 Topps Baseball set, picturing Mel Queen of the Cincinnati Reds.
Why is #556 harder to find?
It is a high number card from the seventh and last print series, #523-598 - the scarce end of the set. Forty-three of its 76 cards are short prints, so scarcity is stated for the series as a whole.
How many cards are in the 1966 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 613 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 598 with no gaps and no number used twice, and 14 cards carry catalogued print variations - five checklists, the trade and sold statement backs, the three-state #43 Don Landrum, three team-card dot pairs and the #161 Jerry Lumpe white streak - that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, 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.