1951 Topps Blue Back #46 Gerry Priddy
About Gerry Priddy
Priddy played all 157 of Detroit's games at second base in 1950, the most of any American League player, in his first season after the Tigers got him from the Browns. Batting second under manager Red Rolfe, a former Yankees teammate, he hit .277 with 13 home runs, 75 RBIs, 104 runs and 95 walks, and placed 17th in MVP voting. He started five double plays in one game and turned 150 over the season, both major-league records, while Detroit led for much of the summer before the Yankees finished three games ahead.
Jerry Priddy was a second baseman whose glove carried more weight than his bat. Signed by the Yankees out of Los Angeles, he played beside Phil Rizzuto at Norfolk and Kansas City, where the pair were billed as New York's double-play combination of the future. Priddy hit .213 in 56 games in 1941, and the Yankees traded him to Washington in January 1943. He hit .271 that year and finished 16th in American League MVP voting, then spent December 1943 to January 1946 in the Army. The Browns bought him in December 1947; he hit .296 in 1948 and .290 in 1949. Detroit acquired him for Lou Kretlow and a reported $100,000 in December 1949, and he played there through 1953. He finished with 1,296 games, 1,252 hits, 61 home runs and a .265 average. In 1973 he was convicted of extorting a cruise line with a bomb threat and served time in federal prison. He died March 3, 1980, in North Hollywood.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 123 | 1 | 17 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 27 | 36 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. 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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Related cards
More Detroit Tigers cards:
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- Blue Back #23 Dizzy Trout
- Blue Back #40 Vic Wertz
- Major League All-Star Hoot Evers
- Major League All-Star George Kell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1951 Topps Blue Back #46 card?
It is Blue Back #46 in the 135-card 1951 Topps Baseball checklist, picturing Gerry Priddy of the Detroit Tigers.
How many cards are in the 1951 Topps Baseball set?
135 cards across five issues - the Red Backs and Blue Backs (52 each), nine Team cards, and eleven each of Connie Mack's All-Stars and the Major League All-Stars. With the Zernial and Holmes variations and both versions of each Team card the master set is 146. All 135 count toward the full set; Jim Konstanty, Robin Roberts and Eddie Stanky, the three rarest Major League All-Stars, are so rarely seen that collectors often count a complete set as 132 without them.
Sources: PSA, BaseballCardPedia, Trading Card Database, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-26.