1958 Topps #143 Billy Muffett
About Billy Muffett
1958 Topps #143 is the rookie card of Billy Muffett, pictured with the St. Louis Cardinals in the second series. It reports his 1957 debut summer: he reached the majors on August 3 and worked 23 games, all in relief, finishing 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA, eight saves and 21 strikeouts in 44 innings for a club that ended second.
Billy Muffett was a right-handed pitcher from Hammond, Indiana, who reached the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, and Boston Red Sox across parts of six seasons from 1957 to 1962. Signed in 1948 out of North Side High School in Fort Worth, Texas, he ground through the low minors for years, missed the 1952 and 1953 seasons to Army service during the Korean War, and pitched winter ball in Puerto Rico and Cuba before he stuck in the big leagues at 26. His best season was his first: as a 1957 Cardinals rookie reliever he went 3-2 with a 2.25 ERA and eight saves down the stretch of a pennant race, though that same September he served up the 12th-inning home run to Hank Aaron that clinched the flag for Milwaukee, a pitch Aaron called the greatest thrill of his career. Muffett finished 16-23 with a 4.33 ERA and 15 saves in 125 games. He then spent 18 seasons as a big-league pitching coach for the Cardinals, California Angels, and Detroit Tigers, earning a World Series ring with St. Louis in 1967 and drawing credit for developing Steve Carlton, Dick Hughes, and Nelson Briles.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 438 | 1 | 34 | 182 | 125 | 43 | 31 | 22 | 0 |
| SGC | 26 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 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 Muffett card?
It is card #143 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 Muffett, St. Louis Cardinals.
Is the 1958 Topps Billy Muffett #143 a rookie card?
Yes - #143 is a rookie card, one of 103 in the 1958 Topps set.
How many graded copies of the 1958 Topps Billy Muffett #143 are there?
PSA has graded 438 copies and SGC 26 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.