1958 Topps #70 Al Kaline
Al Kaline, Detroit's young batting champion. Exists with a scarce yellow-name (YN) lettering variation (#70B), a key target for variation collectors.
About Al Kaline
Al Kaline (1934-2020) signed with the Detroit Tigers straight out of a Baltimore high school in 1953 and never played a day in the minor leagues. He spent all 22 of his major-league seasons with Detroit. In 1955, at age 20, he batted .340 to become the youngest batting champion in major-league history. A superb right fielder with a powerful arm, Kaline won 10 Gold Gloves and was an 18-time All-Star. He reached the 3,000-hit milestone in 1974 and retired with 3,007 hits, 399 home runs, and a .297 average. In 1968 he helped the Tigers win the World Series over St. Louis, batting .379-manager Mayo Smith had moved center fielder Mickey Stanley to shortstop to keep Kaline's bat in the lineup after a midseason injury. Known throughout his career and long afterward as 'Mr. Tiger,' Kaline was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1980.
Sources: Baseball-Reference · Wikipedia · SABR BioProject
Variations & how to tell them apart
Yellow Name (YN) #70
Nineteen Series 1/early-2 cards exist with the player name printed in yellow instead of white, including stars Aaron (#30), Kaline (#70) and McDougald (#20).
- #70 — base card: the lettering is printed in WHITE — the base, more common version. (this page)
- #70B — Yellow Name: the player name is printed in YELLOW — the scarcer version, roughly 2-2.5x tougher than white per PSA populations. — see the card page
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 2,566 | 2 | 23 | 232 | 411 | 500 | 488 | 907 | 3 |
| SGC | 824 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 78 | 125 | 191 | 396 | 12 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-09. 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 Al Kaline in this set: #70B Yellow Name
More Detroit Tigers cards:
- #13 Billy Hoeft
- #13B Billy Hoeft (Yellow Name)
- #32 J.W. Porter
- #32B J.W. Porter (Yellow Name)
- #46 Lou Sleater
- #46B Lou Sleater (Yellow Name)
- #57 Tim Thompson
- #57B Tim Thompson (Yellow Name)
- #70B Al Kaline (Yellow Name)
- #81 Steve Boros
- #81B Steve Boros (Yellow Team)
- #95 Frank Bolling
- #112 Gus Zernial
- #115 Jim Bunning
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Al Kaline card?
It is card #70 of the 1958 Topps Baseball set - Topps' sixth flagship issue: 494 cards numbered 1-495 (#145 was never issued), with die-cut player photos on solid-color backgrounds and the first team logos on Topps fronts. It pictures Al Kaline, Detroit Tigers.
Does the 1958 Topps Al Kaline #70 have a yellow variation?
Yes - #70 is one of the 33 cards that also exist with yellow lettering. This page covers the common white-letter version; the yellow version runs roughly 2-2.5x scarcer per PSA population data.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Al Kaline #70 are there?
PSA has graded 2,566 copies and SGC 824 as of the 2026-07-09 snapshot. Population is a scarcity guide, not a price - high-grade 1958s are notoriously tough because of the set's chronic centering and print-quality issues.
How many cards are in the 1958 Topps set?
494 issued cards, numbered 1-495 - #145 (Ed Bouchee) was pulled before release and never issued, leaving a permanent gap. The PSA master census counts 534 items: the 494 base cards plus 33 yellow-letter variations, 4 numerical checklist-back team cards, the 'Herrer' #433 error, and 2 unnumbered ad cards.
Sources: PSA CardFacts, Beckett, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports, and hobby press-sheet research (Topps Archives, 2026). Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-05.