Shoebox Packed With 1954 Topps Baseball Cards Ft. Aaron, Banks, Kaline Found In Westland, MI
- May 23
- 4 min read
An old shoebox pulled out of a Westland, Michigan basement revealed 600 1954 Topps baseball cards, highlighted by rookies of Aaron, Banks, Kaline, plus Jackie Robinson
Some sports card leads end up different than what you initially expect. That was certainly the case in this situation. A woman named Chris called stating she had some baseball cards she inherited from her father. When asked what she had, Chris described most of the cards as being unopened boxes and cases from the late 80s to early 90s. Cases from this era are always cool, but fairly common. She said there were a few from baseball, football, and hockey, mostly from 1990-91. After describing these in detail, she casually mentioned that there are also a few shoeboxes with cards her father collected as a kid, and she was pretty sure she had seen cards of Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Ted Williams. Now this really piqued my interest! I made plans to check out the collection at her house that night.
All of the cards were located on a long table in the basement, and the entire table was covered by the cards. Most were cases of cards stacked 2 or 3 high. Chris wanted to show to cases before moving onto the older stuff. There were several 1991-92 Topps Stadium Club cases for baseball and hockey, a partial case of 1990-91 OPC Hockey, as well as some vending cases (1987 and 1990). Next were some old brown binders, which contained complete or partial sets from 1974-1980. These items were definitely cool, but I could barely contain my excitement for the shoeboxes that I caught of glimpse of that were sitting in the corner.
It was finally time to check out the shoeboxes. It was well worth the wait! The first box we opened contained approximately 600 1954 Topps baseball cards! We figured that the box contained mostly commons, but Chris and I decided to go treasure hunting, specifically looking for rookies of Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, or Al Kaline. The first quarter of the box didn't turn up much, but a few stars popped up, which gave us hope. First we found 4 cards of Larry Doby. Then Billy Martin. Phil Rizzuto. Duke Snider. Eddie Mathews. Then we got to the second row of cards, and some bigger stars started appearing. Yogi Berra. Ted Williams #250 (2 of them). Then Jackie Robinson! This really gave us hope for the big rookies. Towards the end of the second row, the floodgates opened. Tommy Lasorda RC- 5 of them! Al Kaline RC- 4 of them! Ernie Banks RC- 3 of them! Then, the big game we were hunting for finally appeared- Hank Aaron! Most of the collection was low grade, with paper loss, surface issues, and creasing, but the Hank Aaron rookie was in the best shape of any card included in the box. It was crease free, and the bright orange background really popped.
Before we opened the next shoebox, Chris insisted that I inspect another brown binder that was sitting on the floor. My jaw dropped. Inside where partial sets from the early 1950s. The first set featured was 1953 Bowman color. Cards from this issue are breathtaking; the design featured real color photography, and the images are striking. In this binder were about 130 of the 166 cards, but every major star was included. Mantle, Reese (horizontal card of him jumping while avoiding a slide and about the throw to 1st), Musial, Feller, Snider, Ford, Spahn. This is just a gorgeous set. I flipped through further to find most of a 1953 Bowman Black and White set. After that, a partial set of 1954 Bowman was found. This set included Mantle, Mays, Berra, Snider, and Rizzuto!
There was no time to catch my breathe-onto the other boxes. Chris presented me with an old cigar box. How fitting that vintage cards were stored in a cigar box. Inside were about 200 1952 Topps cards! All were from the low number series, but it was loaded with stars. Included were cards of Andy Pafko (card #1), Warren Spahn, Duke Snider x3, Yogi Berra, Richie Ashburn x2, Minnie Minoso, Robin Roberts, Bob Feller, Larry Doby, Billy Martin x2, Billy Martin, Joe Garagiola x3, and many more. The next box we opened was a partial set of 1958 Topps. There were about 250 cards in total, highlighted by Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Roger Maris RC, and a Mickey Mantle All star card. The final shoebox contained a mix of 1953, 55, and 56 Topps cards. While flipping through them, we discovered a 1953 Satchel Paige, Feller, and Campanella, plus a 1955 Willie Mays and Yogi Berra!
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