1958 Topps #89 Billy Klaus
About Billy Klaus
Billy Klaus appears on 1958 Topps #89, a second-series card issued with the Boston Red Sox. In 1957 he moved back to shortstop with Buddin in military service, playing 127 games and hitting .252 with a career-high 10 home runs and 42 RBI. The lefty-hitting infielder was Boston's regular shortstop that year.
Billy Klaus was a scrappy, hard-nosed infielder who spent parts of eleven big league seasons at shortstop, third base, and second base after nearly a decade of minor league apprenticeship. Born in Spring Grove, Illinois, on December 9, 1928, he grew up on his grandfather's dairy farm and broke in with the Boston Braves in April 1952 before a blockbuster trade routed him through the New York Giants system to the Boston Red Sox. There in 1955, at 26, he was named the regular shortstop on June 5 and hit .283 with 60 runs batted in, drawing the sparkplug tag from Boston writers and finishing runner-up to Herb Score for American League Rookie of the Year. He stayed a Red Sox regular through 1957, shifting between third base and shortstop, before a reduced 1958 role led to a trade to Baltimore for Jim Busby. After stints with the Orioles, Senators, and Phillies, and a brief run with Japan's Chunichi Dragons in 1963, Klaus retired at .249 with 626 hits in 821 games. He managed in the minors, ran a painting business in Sarasota, Florida, and North Carolina, and was inducted into the Lake County High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 198 | 0 | 1 | 49 | 76 | 41 | 24 | 7 | 0 |
| SGC | 19 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-09. Half-grades fold down (8.5→8). PSA counts are straight-graded (the +/Q qualifier rows are excluded).
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1958 Topps Billy Klaus card?
It is card #89 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 Billy Klaus, Boston Red Sox.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Billy Klaus #89 are there?
PSA has graded 198 copies and SGC 19 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 2026-09-30.