10 Best Cards From 1955 Topps Baseball

Considered one of the greatest baseball card sets of any era, in the midst of a great decade for baseball cards, the 1955 Topps Baseball cards still has collectors smiling!

Obviously, this 1955 Topps Baseball card design is the company’s first with a landscape/horizontal look. They’d follow it up again in 1956, but this was their first. They used close-up headshots and action shots behind them, like a player swinging a bat or throwing a pitch. Much like the 1954 Topps baseball set, they have several different colored background variations, but this time, they fade from one side to the other in a gradient.

The backs of the cards are both informative and colorful, with five different colors.

Battling Bowman For Players

Topps and Bowman were still in a heated cardboard battle, and that meant some players had to choose a card manufacturer to sign with, which meant there were some players missing from the 1955 Topps Baseball set (and some missing from the 1955 Bowman set!).

With just 206 cards in the set (210 cards are listed on the checklist), it’s the smallest regular-issued flagship set ever.

Four cards were pulled because of contractual issues. Fifty years later at The National, Topps would issue a 50th Anniversary set of four cards they said were the missing cards:

• Stan Musial
• Whitey Ford
• Bob Feller
• Herb Score

Luis Aparicio was also among those cards given out in that 50th anniversary set, numbered as NAT1.

Mickey Mantle and Roy Campanella had exclusive contracts with Bowman in 1955, so they wouldn’t be in this set either.

However, this was the last set in which Bowman and Topps battled for players, as Topps would end up buying Bowman out in 1956, and they discontinued the Bowman brand. They resurrected it for 1989 Bowman, a mere 33 years later!

PSA’s Population Report: 1955 Topps Baseball

In 2006, there were just 55,000 cards from this set graded at PSA, with just 16 cards getting a gem-mint PSA 10 grade (0.03% gem-rate).

Eighteen years later, in 2024, PSA reports there are over 176,000 cards from this set graded on the pop report, and there are still just 74 cards that have received a gem-mint PSA 10 grade (0.04% gem-rate).

What Happened in 1955?

In 1955, Ralph Kramden was yelling at his wacky neighbor Norton, Rosa Parks wouldn’t give up her seat, McDonald’s opened their first restaurant and Disneyland opened,

Rock ‘n Roll became a thing, when Bill Haley and the Comets topped the Billboard charts with “Rock Around the Clock.” The Brooklyn Dodgers won the World Series and the Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship. “Rebel Without a Cause” was one of the top movies, released just one month after lead actor James Dean died. The year — was 1955!

The Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City and the St. Louis Browns were now the Baltimore Orioles.

Honus Wagner and Cy Young both died in 1955, and MLB decided to start giving the Cy Young award to the best pitcher in baseball that year.

Stick around to the end for some great Sandy Koufax trivia!

10 Best Baseball Cards From 1955 Topps Baseball

Most of the sports card links on this page will take you to eBay. That means I will get a commission on the sales from this page. If you end up buying from these links, I personally thank you for supporting my website! Even if you don’t buy anything, thank you for reading my article! Enjoy!

For our card value rankings, we’re only talking about PSA 5 slabs of these cards, and we used the values from 130point.com. The card images are provided by BuySportsCards.com.

1. Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirates RC #164 (HOF) – $4,500

Just like 1954, the foundation of this set is based on three spectacular rookie cards of future Hall-of-Fame baseball players. Clemente is the lead horse, though, from a cultural perspective, from the fact he is one of the greatest hitters ever and because of the tragic ending to his life.

Making things even tougher for those hoping to get this card at a great price is that the high-number cards (No. 161 to 210) weren’t printed as much as their lower-numbered brethren. That makes this Clemente rookie card a shorter print.

View 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente Rookie Cards on eBay!

2. Sandy Koufax, Brooklyn Dodgers RC #123 (HOF) – $1,750

Debuting on June 24, 1955, Koufax was just 19 years old, which kept him from being trusted by the Dodgers’ coaching staff. He would become the superstar we know him to be in 1960, and he is considered the first sports superstar on the West Coast, after the Dodgers moved to L.A. in 1958. He’d go on to win three Cy Young awards, but he retired young, at just 30 years old, because of elbow soreness. Tommy John hadn’t yet perfected his elbow surgery yet… (comedy.)

View 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax Rookie Cards on eBay!

3. Hank Aaron, Milwaukee Braves #47 (HOF) – $950

Hank’s second baseball card came in his second season in the majors, when he led the majors in doubles with 37, and he made his first All-Star Game. Aaron had a card in both Bowman and Topps in 1955, but his 1955 Bowman card was his only card with that manufacturer. PSA calls this 1955 Topps Hank Aaron his best-looking card ever produced.

View 1955 Topps Hank Aaron Rookie Cards on eBay!

4. Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers #50 (HOF) – $925

The Civil Rights movement was starting to explode in America in 1955, including when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Robinson had to deal with a lot of off-field issues, but he hit .300 that year, and he somehow has a smile on his face in this card. It’s beautiful, and it’s Topps’ first card with Robinson’s photo on it. Even more special about this 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson card is the fact that he led the Dodgers to their very first World Series in ’55 – and their only title in Brooklyn!

View 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson Cards on eBay!

5. Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox #2 (HOF) – $700

Williams went from being both the first and last card of the 1954 Topps Baseball set to being the second overall card in this set! Williams had retired from baseball in September of 1954, before eventually rejoining the Red Sox one month into the 1955 season (he missed a month because he was preoccupied with a divorce). He went on to win the “Comeback Player of the Year” award!

View 1955 Topps Ted Williams Cards on eBay!

6. Harmon Killebrew, Washington Senators RC #124 (HOF) – $350

The big rookie trio in 1955 had to have a bronze-medal winner, and that’s Killebrew. While he had some awesome nicknames (The Killer and Hammerin’ Harmon), he was a prolific slugger and Baseball Hall-of-Famer. But he never won a World Series, and his quiet personality might have cost his cards a little collectability!

Killebrew was just 5-foot-11, but he’s in both the Twins Hall of Fame and the Nationals Ring of Honor (from his time with the Senators before they moved to Minnesota). Killebrew led all major leaguers with the 393 home runs in the ‘60s!

View 1955 Topps Harmon Killebrew Rookie Cards on eBay!

7. Yogi Berra, N.Y. Yankees #198 (HOF) – $275

We always love to talk about The Greatness of Yogi, and in 1955, he won his third American League MVP Award! Interesting nugget – out of the 18 MVP Awards won by catchers, Berra and his National League counterpart Roy Campanella were responsible for six of them! One-third!

View 1955 Topps Yogi Berra Cards on eBay!

8. Duke Snider, Brooklyn Dodgers #210 (HOF) – $275

Would this card still be amazing if it were “Edwin Snider” on the front? Maybe. But “Duke Snider” just has a much better ring! My man’s rookie card came back in 1949 Bowman, but he would go on to hit more home runs than anyone else in the ‘50s decade, including Mickey Mantle! The Duke beat The Mick!

Snider’s card was the last one in the 1955 Topps set, which means it’s difficult to find these in great condition. Many kids back then would put cards in order, then wrap rubber bands around them!

View 1955 Topps Duke Snider Cards on eBay!

9. Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs #28 (HOF) – $250

This is also the only year Banks had both a Bowman and a Topps baseball card. Mr. Cub’s headshot is different from his 1954 rookie card, unlike Hank Aaron’s cards! Topps used the same headshots for both Aaron and Willie Mays’ cards in 1954 and 1955!

View 1955 Topps Ernie Banks Cards on eBay!

10.Al Kaline, Detroit Tigers #4 (HOF) – $180

Kaline is still the youngest player to ever win a batting title, when he hit .340 in 1955, when he was just 20 years old. Ty Cobb was just ONE DAY older when he won the 1907 batting title – also for the Detroit Tigers!

View 1955 Topps Al Kaline Cards on eBay!

Other Great Cards From 1955 Topps Baseball to Consider, with links to eBay: 

• Gil Hodges, Brooklyn Dodgers (HOF) #187 – $130
• Warren Spahn, Milwaukee Braves (HOF) #31 – $110
• Eddie Mathews, Milwaukee Braves (HOF) #155 – $100
• Monte Irvin, N.Y. Giants (HOF) #100 – $85

Sandy Koufax Trivia Time!

Koufax was the first pitcher to do a lot things!

• He was the first to win multiple Cy Young awards. He won three in his career. It would be split into two awards in 1967, going to the best pitchers from the American and National Leagues).
• Koufax was also the first to win a Cy Young award by unanimous vote.
• Koufax was the youngest player ever inducted into the Hall of Fame at just 36 years old.
• Koufax struck out 382 batters for the first time ever in 1965, until Nolan Ryan struck out 383 in 1973. (We haven’t had someone strike out 350 batters since Randy Johnson in 2001.)

Finally, Koufax was one of the greatest baseball players of Jewish descent. A half-century after he stopped playing, Ryan Braun made a name for himself in the game, as one of the best Jewish sluggers ever. But there is no family connection, according to Braun. Another coincidence is that Ryan Braun once lived in a house that belonged to Hank Greenberg, another famous Jewish slugger.

More Top-1o Card Rankings in Topps Flagship Sets

• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1952 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1953 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1954 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1955 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1956 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1957 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1960 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1972 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1978 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 1984 Topps Baseball
• 10 Best Baseball Cards From 2001 Topps Baseball

Have you collected any of the best baseball cards from 1955 Topps Baseball, or are you still working to pick some up, like me?