1967 Topps #418 Sam Mele
About this card
This is one of the twenty manager cards in the 1967 Topps set - one for each of the twenty franchises.
About Sam Mele
Mele did not finish the season this card was printed for. Minnesota had traded for pitcher Dean Chance and handed second base to rookie Rod Carew, so expectations ran high, but the Twins were an even 25-25 after fifty games when owner Calvin Griffith fired him on June 9. The replacement was not Billy Martin, as nearly everyone anticipated, but Cal Ermer, who had been managing the club's Denver farm team; under Ermer the Twins wound up 91-71, one game out of the pennant. The card is #418, a fifth series number, and the last Topps card to picture Mele as a manager. He never managed again.
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 | 222 | 2 | 34 | 125 | 42 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| SGC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 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. PSA registers a row for every one of the 624 states; SGC lists no separate row for the #149 white-streak state.
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Related cards
Team card: #211 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #15 Earl Battey
- #50 Tony Oliva
- #98 Rich Rollins
- #133 Ron Kline
- #137 Twins 1967 Rookie Stars
- #164 Dwight Siebler
- #194 Bob Allison
- #224 Walt Bond
- #235 American League 1966 Pitching Leaders
- #237 American League 1966 Strikeout Leaders
- #239 American League 1966 Batting Leaders
- #241 American League 1966 RBI Leaders
- #243 American League 1966 Home Run Leaders
- #246 Jim Perry
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1967 Topps #418 card?
It is card #418 of the 609-card 1967 Topps Baseball set, picturing Sam Mele of the Minnesota Twins. This is one of the twenty manager cards in the 1967 Topps set - one for each of the twenty franchises.
How many cards are in the 1967 Topps Baseball set?
609 cards, tracked as 624 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 609 without a gap - no number was skipped and none was used twice - and 15 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-12.