Card Details:
Manufacturer: Topps
Year: 1954
Card Number: 201
Paper: Medium Stock Cardboard
Size: Standard (2 5/8” x 3 3/4”)
Card Status: Rookie
The Set:
The 1954 Topps Baseball Card Set consists of 250 cards. While the run is technically limited, regarding the total card number, the set is full of stars; highlighted by a rookie crop of Al Kaline, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks and Tommy Lasorda. 1954 Topps Baseball is one of the most revered and sought after sets in the collecting world. When originally printed Topps set a new standard for design in the trading card world.
The Card:
This card, out of my personal collection (PC), is a 1954 Topps Al Kaline Rookie Card (RC) graded PSA 4 (VG-EX). This marked Kaline’s debut with Topps, to whom he was exclusive to during the ’54 season. The card itself is beautiful, carrying a rich candy apple red background (which can sometimes vary, typically with a hint of orange) with an eye grabbing colored portrait settled on the left-hand side of the card and a black and white action pose in the bottom right. You will also see a facsimile autograph over the portrait and Kaline’s name in all caps in white near the top border of the card. Just below his name is his position in black and all lowercase and in the upper right corner you will find a magnificent yellow team logo.
When the card is flipped to its reverse side a red and green theme carries throughout. Just as any other card you can find a typical biographical section providing all he important information you need to know. Just below are stat lines. Lastly, a three picture “Inside Baseball” comic runs along the bottom depicting a story about Kaline’s youth.
Unfortunately, the 1954 Topps RC tends to have poor left to right centering making high grades difficult to find. With the lack of a define white boarder at the top the red background is prone to chipping as well. When it comes to top to bottom centering try to find yourself a card on which his name is not near the top edge of the card.
The Player:
Bat: Right Throw: Right
Height: 6’2” Weight: 180lbs
Debut: 25 June 1953 Final: 2 October 1974
DOB: 19 December 1934 Death: 6 April 2020
If you are to believe Baseball-Reference Kaline was signed (at the age of 19) to a $25,000 bonus, however, the back of his rookie card indicates that it was a $35,000 signing. Kaline never played a game at the minor league level, instead, he joined the Tigers immediately after high school in 1953.
In 1973 Kaline became the third recipient of the Roberto Clemente Award. The award is given out to those who “Demonstrates the values Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente displayed in his commitment to community and understanding the value of helping others.” Al remains the only Detroit Tiger to have one the award, which has been awarded since 1971.
At the end of his career Kaline tallied 3,007 hits, 1,622 runs scored, 1,582 RBI, 399 homeruns and a .297 batting average. Kaline also became the youngest batting champion ever in 1955, beating out fellow Tiger Ty Cobb by one day in age. While Kaline’s career numbers make not be eye popping, only having managed three 100 RBI seasons one 200 hit season and no seasons with 30 homeruns, his numbers are extremely impressive seeing that he played during the second dead ball era (1963-76).
Notable Achievements:
· 15x AL All-Star (1955-87, 1971 & 1974)
· 10x Gold Glove Winner (1957-59 & 1961-67)
· AL Batting Average Leaders (1955)
· AL Slugging Percentage Leader (1959)
· AL OPS Leader (1959)
· AL Hits Leader (1955)
· AL Total Bases Leader (1955)
· AL Doubles Leader (1961)
· 20-Homerun Seasons: 9 (1955-57, 1959, 1962-63, 1966-67 & 1969)
· 100 RBI Seasons: 3 (1955-56 & 1963)
· 200 Hit Seasons: 1 (1955)
· ROY Voting: 3rd Place (1954)
· Top-10 MVP Vote Finish: 9 (1955-57, 1959, 1961-63, & 1966-67)
· World Series Champion (Detroit, 1968)
· Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1980 (Became 10th player to be elected to HOF in first year
on ballot)
Population and Sales:
According to the Population Report from PSA there are 3,512 1954 Topps Al Kaline cards have been graded, making up just 2.2% of the total graded population of ’54 Baseball (159,246 cards). Of those 2,931 have a full grade, 429 have half grades and 152 have qualifiers. When we look at the breakdown of grades 2,045 of the 2,931 (69.7%) full grade cards can be found in grades PSA 3-6. There are currently only 20 cards that have been graded PSA 9 and one graded PSA 10. The current VCP on a PSA 4 like mine is $505.12 with a high sale of $599.99 and low of $420 (bargain!). According to PSA prices range from $375 for a PSA Authentic all the way up to $88,688 for the one PSA 10. The GEM MINT sold for the $88,000+ back on May 20th, 2012 via SCP Auctions.
Work Cited
1954 Topps Al Kaline | PSA CardFacts®. www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1954-topps/al-kaline-201/24525.
“Al Kaline Stats.” Baseball, www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kalinal01.shtml.
“Al Kaline.” Al Kaline - BR Bullpen, www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Al_Kaline.
Glew, Kevin. Collecting Al Kaline Cards. www.psacard.com/articles/articleview/7269/collecting-al-kaline-cards/.
Mr. Tiger Towed the Line. www.psacard.com/Articles/ArticleView/4093/mr-tiger-towed-line.