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Just Collect Presents The Set of the Week - 1954 Topps Baseball

Learn More About Sports Cards Sets Each Week!

January 12, 2026

Rookie cards of Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Al Kaline, as well as TWO cards of Ted Williams are in the 1954 Topps baseball set. Today, we'll teach you about these incredible treasures in our new series: The Set of the Week.

1954 TOPPS BASEBALL

1954-2

In 1954, Topps produced a set of a small set of only 250 cards. For comparison, sets from the 1980's such as 1984 has 792 cards! Each card measures 2-5/8" by 3-3/4”, slightly bigger than a standard card size today of 2-1/2 by 3-1/2". While the set is small in size, the names in the checklist are HUGE!

The key card is the Hank Aaron rookie. The Hammer retired after the 1976 season with the MLB record of 755 home runs - more than Babe Ruth! The most astonishing stat about Aaron is that if you take away all 755 home runs, he's still a member of the 3,000 hit club; Aaron retired with 3,771 hits. Despite not playing a game in nearly 50 years, Hank Aaron is still second all-time in home runs and third all-time in hits! The 25-time All-Star won a World Series for his Braves in 1957, the same year he was named league MVP. Aaron's rookie card is number 128 in the set.

Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks has his rookie card in the 1954 Topps set, as well. Card 94 features the Hall of Famer. In his career, Banks hit 512 home runs, won two MVP awards (1958 and 1959), and was named to 14 All-Star teams.

Al Kaline, Mr. Tiger, also has his rookie in the set. Sitting at card #201, you can find the man who has 3,007 hits, won 10 Gold Glove awards, and was on 18 All-Star teams. Kaline won the 1968 World Series.

HOFers

You can see bright backgrounds on each card with both a large portrait and smaller image of each player. Cards have facsimile signatures on the front.

Other legendary players in the set include:

Ted Williams (#1) and (250)
Jackie Robinson (#10)
Duke Snider (#32)
Whitey Ford (#37)
Willie Mays (#90)

1954cards

Cards were released in three different series, similar to Topps baseball card releases today. In 2025, cards were released in Series 1, Series 2, and Update. In 1954, cards 1-50 were in Series 1, 51-75 in Series 2, and 76-250 in Series 3. A marketing idea keeps you buying cards all year rather than completing a full set at once, but also helps rookies called up later in the season a chance to be on cards.

Cards 1-50 do have an a variation known as Gray Backs. The color of the backs of the cards were different as these were printed in Canada. Cards with a white back were printed in the US.

Notice how there are TWO cards of Ted William? Mickey Mantle had a contract with Bowman in 1954 and 1955. Topps inked Teddy Ballgame to a contract in 1954 and placed him cards 1 and 250. In 1954, the Hall of Famer finished with a .345 average and a .513 on base percentage, and made one of his 19 All-Star games!

We'd love to travel back in time when a box of 1954 Topps baseball cards set us back a cool 5 cents per pack. Four cards inside and 36 packs to a box - if only. While you're never guaranteed a PSA 10, when grading a card, a pack-fresh one would stand the best chance at receiving the top grade. Currently, PSA, one of the top grading companies in the hobby, has graded 7,565 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie cards and only TWO were gem mint perfect with that PSA 10 grade. Condition is VERY important when determining the value of your cards - a change of just a single grade could alter the value by hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Example: the last known sale of a PSA 9 Hank Aaron rookie card was for $600,000.00 while a PSA 8 was sold for $45,600.00; quite the difference in price! The last sale of a PSA 1 was $1,618 according to PSA.

Do you have 1954 Topps cards you're interested in selling? We are always buying! Earlier this year, our owner, Leighton, went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. While there, Leighton purchased a collection of cards including the Hank Aaron rookie that you can read about HERE. You can read about a few of other other collections purchases including:

The Oregon Farm Collection with a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle discovered in an old barn!
Two 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie cards - a pair of rookies from the Great One!
1990's Precious Metal Gem basketball cards include some of the rarest, most sought-after cards in modern history.
The Aaron Judge Collection with high-end one of one cards and multiple rookie autos.
Topps Venezuela Collection including a scarce Willie Mays card.

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WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 2009 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.

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We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.

Travel to Us

If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.

Come to convention

We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.

Meet in-person

If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.

Meet in New York City

If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; read all the information here.

SHIP your collection

If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!

Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.