1933 Goudey #172 Billy Hargrave
PSA/BCP list Billy (William Pinky) Hargrave; not brother Bubbles (Eugene) who retired in 1930. Cardboard Connection calls him Pinky Hargrave.
About Billy Hargrave
William McKinley "Pinky" Hargrave (1896-1942), pictured on card #172 with the 1933 Boston Braves, was a switch-hitting catcher who broke into the majors with the Washington Senators in 1923. Over ten big-league seasons he also caught for the St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, and Braves, appearing in 650 games and batting .278 with 39 home runs and 265 RBI. His best year came in 1929 with Detroit, when he hit .330 overall and .437 in August after adopting an open batting stance. A strong-armed defensive catcher, he earned his nickname as a minor-league rookie in Connecticut in 1919, when teammates began calling him "Pinky" for his reddish complexion. He was the younger brother of Bubbles Hargrave, the Cincinnati catcher who won the 1926 National League batting title, making the pair one of the few brother tandems to both catch in the majors. After his final big-league game in 1933, Pinky kept playing in the high minors, and in 1934, at 38, he was named Most Valuable Player of the American Association after hitting .356 with 17 home runs for the Minneapolis Millers.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · SABR
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 357 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 33 | 40 | 61 | 202 | 3 |
| SGC | 132 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 87 | 7 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-03. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1933 Goudey Billy Hargrave card?
It is card #172 of the 1933 Goudey (R319) Baseball set - the 240-card, 2-3/8 by 2-7/8 inch color-art set issued in 1933 with Big League Chewing Gum. It pictures Billy Hargrave with the Boston Braves.
Is the 1933 Goudey Billy Hargrave #172 a rookie card?
By modern catalog convention, yes. 1933 Goudey is treated as the hobby's first major nationally distributed gum set, so nearly every card in it carries the rookie-card (RC) designation - a modern label applied retroactively, since many of these players had earlier tobacco, caramel, or strip cards.
How many cards are in the 1933 Goudey set?
240 numbered cards, though collectors usually count 241 collectible cards because #6 Jimmy Dykes exists in an error and a corrected version. Only 239 numbers were in 1933 packs - #106 (Nap Lajoie) was printed in 1934 and issued by mail.
Sources: Trading Card Database, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports, and hobby press-sheet research. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-05.