Couldn't load pickup availability
Milwaukee Braves · Infield · Card #181 · Base · VG
You are buying the exact card pictured — the 1954 Topps card of Milwaukee Braves infielder Mel Roach, card #181, his first Topps issue.
TOP RATED PLUS SELLER · 18,000+ ACTIVE LISTINGS
Same- or next-business-day handling on every order. Each card ships in a penny sleeve and rigid holder inside a protective mailer, from a smoke-free home. 30-day returns, and any question gets a real answer from the owner, not a script.
Why This Card Matters
This is a genuine 1954 Topps card — the set with the dual-image design, the portrait beside the action cut-out, that collectors have chased for seventy years. Mel Roach is on it because the Braves had just signed him out of the University of Virginia for a $15,000 bonus in July 1953, and the back says why: he led the Virginia team with a .366 average, 5 home runs and 17 RBI, after hitting .349 with 5 homers and 21 RBI there in 1952. His printed major-league record is five games and two at-bats with no hits, because at the time of printing that was his entire professional career — the stat line footnote reads “No previous experience in Organized Baseball prior to 1953.” Born January 25, 1933, 6'1" and 190 pounds, home Richmond, Virginia. The Inside Baseball cartoon panel notes he was also quarterback on the Virginia football team, and the card famously misspells it “quaterback”.
| Player | Mel Roach |
| Set | 1954 Topps |
| Subset / Insert | Base set |
| Card Number | #181 |
| Serial Number | Not serial numbered |
| Team | Milwaukee Braves |
| Attributes | Vintage base card, first Topps issue |
| Condition | Raw, ungraded, and this card is Very Good — please read before buying, and price your expectations to a seventy-two-year-old card. Left-to-right centering runs about 55/45. Top-to-bottom is badly off at roughly 15/85: the blue printed area runs essentially flush to the top edge with a wide bottom border. All four corners are rounded and soft with visible fibre fraying, worst at the upper right and lower left. Edges are soft and fuzzy throughout with lifted fibres, most pronounced on the right. There is heavy overall toning — the border reads tan rather than white — with the most obvious discoloration on the upper-right border. No creases, no paper loss, no pin holes and no writing. The back is toned but fully legible. Honest, presentable, well-loved vintage. |
| Sport | Baseball |
Market-Informed Pricing
Priced from verified sold comps on this exact card and this exact version, not from asking prices or guesswork. Best Offer is enabled and every reasonable offer gets a look.
Professional Imaging
High-resolution scans and photos so you can inspect corners, edges, surface, and centering yourself. What you see is what you get.
Secure Shipping
Penny sleeve, top loader or card saver, team bag, and rigid protection in every shipment. Packed right, shipped fast, from a smoke-free environment.
The Real 1954 Topps — Not the 1994 Archives Reprint
1994 Topps Archives reprinted the entire 1954 set, same design, same card number, and those reprints sell for a fraction of the original. This is the genuine 1954 card, printed on period stock with the vertical © T.C.G. Printed in U.S.A. line up the right edge of the back and no year in the copyright, exactly as 1954 Topps backs read. It is not autographed, not graded and not a 1954 Bowman card — Bowman issued a competing set that year and the two get confused constantly.
INFINITE CARDS
Cards, Collectibles & More — Shipped Fast, Packed Right
★★★★★
Top Rated Plus · 18,000+ Listings
TradingCardsMarketplace.com is here to help you find your next great item — today and every day moving forward.
© 2025, Dias Properties LLC DBA TradingCardsMarketplace.com, 804 Prestwick Ct, College Station, TX 77845, Texas SOS File Number: 0800666003