1951 Topps Blue Back #29 Granville Hamner
About Granville Hamner
Before Game One of the 1950 World Series, Hamner, the Phillies' player representative, told his teammates on October 4 to stay in the clubhouse until the players settled with Commissioner Happy Chandler over the $1 million Gillette paid to sponsor the television broadcasts. The 23-year-old negotiated a sizable sum for the players' pension fund. In the Series he hit two doubles and a triple, but his eighth-inning error in Game Three played large in a 3-2 loss. His regular season had been his best to that point: 11 home runs, up from 6 in 1949, and 82 RBI, up from 53.
Granville Wilbur Hamner was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1927 and reached the Philadelphia Phillies as a 17-year-old in 1944. The next year he became the youngest player ever to start an Opening Day game. A right-handed shortstop and later second baseman, he was a leader of the 1950 pennant-winning Whiz Kids, played all 157 games that season, and hit .429 in the World Series sweep by the New York Yankees. Named team captain in 1952, he was an All-Star in 1952, 1953 and 1954, and hit 17 home runs as a shortstop in 1952, a Phillies record then. He spent roughly sixteen years in Philadelphia before a May 1959 trade to Cleveland, and even pitched in a handful of games, finishing with a .262 average and 104 home runs over 17 seasons. He was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and died in Philadelphia in 1993.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 159 | 0 | 18 | 47 | 17 | 15 | 25 | 37 | 0 |
| SGC | 16 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 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
Team card: Team card Philadelphia Phillies
More Philadelphia Phillies cards:
- Red Back #45 Andy Seminick
- Blue Back #3 Richie Ashburn
- Blue Back #4 Del Ennis
- Blue Back #8 Dick Sisler
- Blue Back #43 Willie Jones
- Blue Back #51 Eddie Waitkus
- Major League All-Star Jim Konstanty
- Major League All-Star Robin Roberts
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1951 Topps Blue Back #29 card?
It is Blue Back #29 in the 135-card 1951 Topps Baseball checklist, picturing Granville Hamner of the Philadelphia Phillies.
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.