1951 Topps Blue Back #40 Vic Wertz
About Vic Wertz
Wertz played right field in 145 of Detroit's games in 1950, and the summer's loudest stretch began on July 27: over five games he hit seven home runs, going 13 for 17 with four doubles and six walks. He finished at .308 with 27 home runs, 123 RBIs and 99 runs scored, and Baseball Magazine named him its right fielder on its 1950 All-Star team. The Tigers led the American League until September 15 and ended three games behind the Yankees, his first pennant race.
Vic Wertz was a left-handed-hitting outfielder turned first baseman who played seventeen major league seasons from 1947 to 1963, all of them in the American League, with the Detroit Tigers, the St. Louis Browns and Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins. Born in York, Pennsylvania and signed by Detroit in 1942 out of Reading High School, he broke out as the Tigers' right fielder in 1949 with 20 home runs and a career-high 133 RBIs, and he made four All-Star teams. Traded from Baltimore to Cleveland in June 1954, he was handed first base and stayed there the rest of his career. He went 8 for 16 in that fall's World Series, yet is remembered for the one he missed: a drive of more than 400 feet in Game One that Willie Mays ran down with his back to the plate. Polio put him in the hospital in August 1955 and ended his season, but he returned in 1956 for a career-high 32 home runs and the Comeback Player of the Year award. He finished with a .277 average, 266 home runs and 1,178 RBIs, built the Vic Wertz Distributing Company in Mount Clemens, Michigan, and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 152 | 0 | 15 | 45 | 23 | 26 | 20 | 23 | 0 |
| SGC | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 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:
- Blue Back #11 Johnny Groth
- Blue Back #23 Dizzy Trout
- Blue Back #46 Gerry Priddy
- Major League All-Star Hoot Evers
- Major League All-Star George Kell
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1951 Topps Blue Back #40 card?
It is Blue Back #40 in the 135-card 1951 Topps Baseball checklist, picturing Vic Wertz 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.