Al Kaline - 1958 Topps #70B
1958 Topps #70B 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.
Yellow Name lettering variation: the player name is printed in yellow instead of white. PSA population data puts yellow copies at roughly 2-2.5x scarcer than their white counterparts.
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. — see the card page
- #70B — Yellow Name: the player name is printed in YELLOW — the scarcer version, roughly 2-2.5x tougher than white per PSA populations. (this page)
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 376 | 0 | 5 | 38 | 61 | 81 | 73 | 116 | 2 |
| SGC | 124 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 27 | 67 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-09. Counts cover this variation only; the base version is tracked separately. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8). PSA counts are straight-graded (the +/Q qualifier rows are excluded).
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Related cards
More Al Kaline in this set: #70
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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, and this is the Yellow Name lettering variation.
What is the 1958 Topps Al Kaline yellow variation?
On this version of #70 the player name is printed in yellow instead of white - one of the set's 33 recognized lettering variations. Yellow copies run roughly 2-2.5x scarcer than the white version per PSA population data.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Al Kaline #70 are there?
PSA has graded 376 copies and SGC 124 as of the 2026-07-09 snapshot (this variation only). 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 2026-07-10.