1951 Topps Blue Back #19 Phil Masi
About Phil Masi
Masi spent 1950 in his hometown, arriving from Pittsburgh at 34 to take over as the White Sox starting catcher. He hit .279 with 7 home runs and 55 RBIs in 122 games, and in 114 games behind the plate he made two errors, a .996 fielding percentage that led American League catchers. Chicago's team ERA, sixth in the league before he arrived, ranked fourth by the end of the year.
Phil Masi, a catcher, played 1,229 major league games between 1939 and 1952, most of them for the Boston Braves, and was a four-time All-Star from 1945 through 1948. A Chicago native who was working behind a butcher's counter when a former White Sox outfielder spotted him, he signed with Wausau of the Northern League and led it with 31 home runs in 1937. Boston signed him after the 1938 season, and he spent his first years backing up Al Lopez, Ray Berres and Ernie Lombardi. He became the regular catcher in 1943 and built his reputation handling knuckleballer Jim Tobin, who threw a no-hitter on April 27, 1944, and later the Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain staff. His best year at the plate was 1947, when he hit .304 with 9 home runs. In Game 1 of the 1948 World Series he pinch-ran for Bill Salkeld, was called safe on a disputed pickoff at second base, and scored the only run of a 1-0 win. He finished at .264 with 47 home runs and 417 RBIs, playing for Pittsburgh in 1949 and the White Sox from 1950 to 1952. He died on March 29, 1990.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 164 | 1 | 20 | 45 | 14 | 18 | 45 | 21 | 0 |
| SGC | 15 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 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 Chicago White Sox
More Chicago White Sox cards:
- Red Back #36 Gus Zernial
- Red Back #49 Al Zarilla
- Red Back #51 Eddie Robinson
- Blue Back #2 Hank Majeski
- Blue Back #26 Chico Carresquel
- Blue Back #45 Bill Pierce
- Connie Mack's All-Star Eddie Collins
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1951 Topps Blue Back #19 card?
It is Blue Back #19 in the 135-card 1951 Topps Baseball checklist, picturing Phil Masi of the Chicago White Sox.
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.