1973 Topps #455 Bill Melton
About Bill Melton
Two herniated discs ended Bill Melton's 1972 in June, the result of trying to break his son's fall from the garage roof in late 1971. He had played 57 games, hitting 7 home runs with 30 RBI. The White Sox finished second, 5 1/2 games behind Oakland. His 1973 Topps card is #455, from the fourth print series, with Chicago.
Bill Melton was a power-hitting third baseman who spent parts of ten seasons in the majors, eight of them with the Chicago White Sox. Signed out of Citrus College in California, he broke in with Chicago in 1968 and took over the starting job the following year. In 1970 he became the first White Sox player to reach 30 home runs in a season, and in 1971 he led the American League with 33 homers, earning his only All-Star selection. A back injury suffered off the field cost him most of 1972 and sapped his power for the rest of his career, though he remained a regular through 1975. He finished his White Sox tenure as the franchise's all-time home run leader before closing his playing days with the California Angels and Cleveland Indians. He later became a longtime White Sox broadcaster.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 184 | 3 | 64 | 96 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 6 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. 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: #481 Chicago White Sox
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- #20 Stan Bahnsen
- #42 Mike Andrews
- #62 1972 Home Run Leaders
- #63 1972 Runs Batted In Leaders
- #66 1972 Victory Leaders
- #73 Ed Herrmann
- #105 Carlos May
- #129 Terry Forster
- #150 Wilbur Wood
- #174 Rich Gossage
- #194 Jorge Orta
- #238 Tony Muser
- #261 Pat Kelly
- #287 Eddie Leon
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1973 Topps #455 card?
It is card #455 of the 660-card 1973 Topps Baseball set, picturing Bill Melton of the Chicago White Sox.
How many cards are in the 1973 Topps Baseball set?
660 cards, tracked as 679 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 660 with none skipped, in five series of 132 - #1-132, #133-264, #265-396, #397-528 and the high numbers, #529-660, printed in lower quantities; 19 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - fifteen Field Leaders cards, the #20 Stan Bahnsen, #31 Buddy Bell and #504 Earl Williams border-gap pairs and the two #280 Al Kaline printings.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, 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 2026-10-25.